


Of Nutcrackers, Parties and Seasick Crocodiles

by HighKingFen, OfTheDirewolves



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Found Family, Inspired by Hallmark Christmas Movies, M/M, Miscommunication, Past Quentin Coldwater/Penny Adiyodi, Rivals to Lovers, So many Christmas references, idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:00:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 50,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21941704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighKingFen/pseuds/HighKingFen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfTheDirewolves/pseuds/OfTheDirewolves
Summary: Fillory Festivities is New York’s Premier event planning company. Quentin Coldwater always thought he was going to take over the reins when Jane retired. That’s until her godson comes into town. Enter Eliot Waugh, an actor who feels lost about what he wants to do with his life.Their conflicting styles and personalities immediately clash. From food choices to event ideas, they can never seem to agree. There’s also Jane’s impending retirement hanging over their growing bond.When their biggest event comes under fire can they put their differences aside and work together?
Relationships: Alice Quinn/Julia Wicker, Margo Hanson & Eliot Waugh, Margo Hanson/James, Quentin Coldwater & Alice Quinn, Quentin Coldwater & Julia Wicker, Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh
Comments: 15
Kudos: 40
Collections: Magicians Hallmark Holiday Extravaganza





	1. Of Terrible First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> Holy shit it's posting day... I can't believe it's finally here...
> 
> I've been working on this for months and it's like holy shit now it's out in the open and you're all going to read it? Slightly nerve-wracking 
> 
> This is based on the Hallmark movie "The Best Christmas Party Ever" with Torrey Devito & Steve Lund.
> 
> I want to thank my wonderful artist [Cath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighKingFen/pseuds/High%20King%20Fen) for all her truly amazing art pieces 
> 
> and most importantly to [Kate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanBoleyn/pseuds/PanBoleyn), my amazing patient friend and beta who had to deal with me writing this and crying about it to her multiple times in the last few months ... Seriously you deserve the world nay the universe... Thank you for your patience and friendship and everything... Truly!
> 
> I am 100% certain I would have given up on this if it wasn't for you

Quentin Coldwater stared at himself in the mirror. He had no idea if his outfit was good enough for tonight’s party. Quentin was a spectacular party planner but when it came to dressing himself? He sometimes fell a bit short. 

“Need some help?” Came the voice of Julia. 

Julia Wicker was Quentin’s cousin and one of his best friends. Her mom was Quentin’s mom’s sister. They had basically grown up together and been the outcasts of that side of the family. While everyone else had fallen in line with what they were supposed to do or who they were supposed to be, Quentin and Julia had swam in the opposite direction. Julia Wicker was Quentin’s best friend. Her side of the family was the perfect WASP family. Appearances were all that mattered. When Quentin’s mother had married someone they considered low class they stopped talking to her. They were never fond of Quentin but for a while, Julia was the perfect daughter. Until her dad was sent away and she discovered the hypocrisy of it all.

Julia had dated their friend James all through high school and the first year of college. Then they had broken up when they both realized that their relationship existed mostly to please their parents’ ideals. Julia had gone away for a year to find herself and when she’d come back she’d met Alice. It had practically been love at first sight.

Julia had once confided in him that she was afraid her mother would decide to lock her up the way she had her father. Sadly Quentin hadn’t been able to give her a solid answer. Quentin’s mother on the other hand? Quentin’s mother had always been awful. She’d never been a particularly attentive mother — but sometimes the attention was worse than being ignored. Quentin could still hear his mother telling him “he broke things” or her arguments about how his depression was mostly for attention. Please — the last thing Quentin had wanted was to be the center of attention. 

So he and Julia had bonded over that feeling of not being enough and had promised to always look out for each other. 

“I’m nervous,” Quentin admitted as she came into the room. Julia looked around the clothes thrown on the bed.

“I noticed — what makes this party different than all the rest?” Julia asked.

Quentin wasn’t sure how to answer that. He honestly didn’t know why this party felt different. Quentin Coldwater was the right-hand man to Jane Chatwin, owner of Fillory Festivities. Fillory Festivities was New York’s premier event planning company. People always acted surprised when Quentin said he was a party planner. Quentin wasn’t the sharpest dresser, he wasn’t great at talking to people and had a lot of anxieties. But he was good at research and at working behind the scenes. He was great at making himself invisible. 

Quentin wasn’t really fond of going to parties when he was in high school or college. He was never the life of the party, so to speak. It always felt like people were judging him, or talking to him to get to Julia, or Kady— even James on one or two occasions. So he’d always sit back and read his book. He was never very popular either — Julia, James and Kady were the popular ones growing up. But no one knows the power of a party more than Quentin does.

When he was younger one of Henry Fogg’s Christmas parties changed his life and the life of his family. Since then Quentin has seen parties as magical. So he has always done his best to try and spread a little bit of that magic to other people. 

“Q? Did you get lost in thought again?” Julia asked.

“Sorry I was just — Jane mentioned it was an important party but she wouldn’t tell me why,” Quentin said fiddling with his tie. Why was it that tying up damn ties was so hard?

“Let me help you with that,” Julia said as she stepped in to tie his tie.

“You look wonderful, Q,” Alice said coming into the bedroom.

“Thanks, Vix,” Quentin answered softly.

“Maybe you’re finally getting your well-earned promotion,” Julia suggested.

“It would be about time — nothing against Jane but you’re the true shining star of that company Q,” Alice said. 

“That’s a very nice way of saying you’re a workaholic,” Julia replied with a laugh.

“I’m not a workaholic,” Quentin said and both women stared at him. 

“When was the last time you went out on an actual date, Q, or went out somewhere that wasn’t work-related?” Alice asked and Quentin had no answer for her. 

Because it was true. It had been a very long time since he had gone out on a date. Not since he had broken up with Penny. He’d dated Penny for a year and they had been good together — at least Quentin had thought so. He’d thought things were going fine until the break up happened. 

Which, OK, fine — Quentin probably shouldn’t have missed the date he’d set up to make up for the dinner he’d missed. That had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Penny had claimed that Quentin was too much of a workaholic to make a relationship work. That he was always going to put his work above his relationship. He knew Quentin’s job was important to him but he’d wished he’d mattered more. There had been nothing Quentin could truly say to that. So after one too many missed dates or canceled evenings, Penny had broken things off and moved away leaving Quentin alone. 

So Quentin had thrown himself even more into work. It didn’t help that his friend group was mostly paired off. Julia and Alice had been together since college, Quentin had been the one who introduced them. 

Kady was away on a work trip with her girlfriend, Victoria. James had a mysterious girlfriend that no one in the group had met yet. So the only single one was Quentin himself. 

“You know I’m about to enter into my —the company’s— busiest season. I don’t really have time to date right now,” Quentin said.

“You know you’re not always going to be able to use that excuse right?” Julia asked but Quentin just ignored her.

“I did actually come in here for a reason,” Alice remembered. 

“Which is?” Quentin asked as he fiddled with his jacket.

“James called to remind you of the thing at his apartment tonight,” Alice said with a tilt of her head and then she threw him a knowing look. Quentin knew there was no getting out of this but he was still going to try.

“I have work,” Quentin said.

“You can come after the party, James said it was important that we all be there tonight,” Alice reminded him.

“Fine — I’ll try to get out of the party early,” Quentin relented with a visible sigh. 

“That is all we ask,” Alice said giving him a kiss on the cheek. 

“Do you think we’re finally going to meet the mystery girlfriend?” Julia wondered. 

“I have no idea. What do you think she’s like?” Quentin asked.

“Honestly knowing James? She’s probably going to be gorgeous because that man’s luck is insane when it comes to dating partners,” Alice said looking at her girlfriend.

“I’m taking that as a compliment,” Julia replied.

“As you should,” Quentin laughed.

James had always been the so-called pretty boy of the group. Growing up they had all kind of fit into different categories. Kady had been the scary one, Quentin the quiet one, Julia was the social one and James the pretty one. They had once joked that if they were the spice girls James would have totally been Victoria Beckham. 

James’ dating life was particular. After he and Julia had broken up his relationships didn’t seem to go beyond the 3-month mark. Which was why this current relationship was so surprising. 

James had been dating the same woman for about five or six months now — but no one in the group had met her yet. it was slightly bizarre for a group of friends as close as theirs. When asked James said that he wanted to make sure the relationship was real before throwing her to the wolves. 

“Maybe we’re not going to meet her until the wedding?” Quentin joked.

“Which you would have to plan,” Julia said.

“Kind of hard to plan for a wedding when you don’t know the bride so hopefully we’ll meet her before they get to that point,” Quentin remarked with a smirk. 

“Maybe that’s why he wants all of us to come tonight,” Alice said looking specifically at Quentin.

“I already said I would try to come — I can't guarantee more than that,” Quentin said with a laugh.

“I guess we’ll take it,” Alice said rolling her eyes.

“I love you both but I need to get going, otherwise I’m going to be late,” Quentin said grabbing his things and making his way out the door but he could hear the duo gossiping.

“Isn’t Jane’s party like 2 hours from now?” Alice asked her girlfriend.

“And the man claims he’s not a workaholic,” Julia said laughing. 

* * *

The party had gone off without a hitch. It was one of the first times that he’d ever planned a Thanksgiving party but Jane had wanted to throw herself a Thanksgiving party and well she’s the boss. Even if he had no idea why an English woman wanted to throw herself a party for a holiday that she didn’t celebrate. Not to mention the fact that Thanksgiving had been a week ago. 

Everything was going according to plan but Quentin still had no idea why Jane had claimed this party was so important. Quentin strived to make every party feel unique but he was still scratching his head at the point of this one. He was going to ask Jane about it but then he’d seen the most attractive man in the world and he’d gotten a bit distracted.

Julia and Alice had not been kidding about his dry spell. Before he could do anything about it, Jane took the stage and stood in front of the massive peacock decoration. Which meant he had to ignore the man and head to the stage. 

Quentin handed her the microphone and waited to see what his boss would say. 

“You’re probably wondering why I’m throwing myself a Thanksgiving party — especially considering I’m English. But I wanted to say I’m thankful for all of you. Clients who have become friends, colleagues who are like family,” Jane said looking at Quentin, who smiled back, “and family who are my heart. Fillory Festivities is New York’s premier event planning service and so it’s with a heavy heart that I make my exit.” 

Quentin was standing there in shock — was she saying what he thought she was saying?  
  
“I shall be retiring after this Christmas season — it’s time for the next generation to take the stage.” 

Quentin wasn’t sure what else Jane said because his mind was stuck on “Jane is retiring”. Why hadn’t she told him she was retiring? And what did that mean exactly? Suddenly his dread came back to the forefront of his mind. 

Quentin wasn’t sure what he was expecting but it was definitely not _that._

He followed Jane as they walked away from the stage.

“Didn’t see that coming,” Quentin said and Jane smiled at him.

“Well you know what I say ‘the element of surprise —’”

“‘Is the key to any successful party’,” Quentin said, finishing her motto. He wanted to ask what her retirement meant but before he could Jane turned her face away and waved someone over.

“Speaking of the next generation — there’s someone I’d like you to meet,” Jane said as the attractive man from earlier came up to them.

“Great speech, Aunt Jane.” 

_Aunt Jane?_ As far as Quentin knew Jane didn’t have any nieces or nephews. Her oldest brother Rupert had died in combat and Martin in a car accident, yet the man greeted her with an air of familiarity. 

“So glad to see you. Come! I want to introduce you to someone,” Jane said as she turned to look at Quentin, “This is my right-hand man, Quentin Coldwater. Quentin, this is my godson, Eliot Waugh.” 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Eliot said putting out a hand for Quentin to shake – which he did. Even if his brain apparently couldn’t come up with words, Alice would say his bisexual brain cell was short-circuiting. Then he noticed Eliot talking again “I’ve heard a lot about you. Smart, talented but Jane failed to mention handsome.” 

The comment made Quentin snap out of it and he was pretty sure he might have let out a disbelieving laugh.“Thanks, I guess?” Quentin said not knowing how to respond. 

“Be careful of Ellie here — he’s a charmer,” Jane said with a smile. 

“Just call me Eliot or whatever you’d prefer. Jane is the only person in the world that calls me Ellie which I’m pretty sure she does only to tease me.”

“Well someone has to keep you on your toes, darling.” 

“Nice to meet you, Eliot,” Quentin said.

And then Jane said the words Quentin had been dreading to hear since she brought over her godson for him to meet.

“He’s going to be here helping us with the busy holiday season. I want you to show him the ropes — teach him everything you know.”

_Teach him everything you know._

_Teach him everything you know._

Quentin’s broken brain kept repeating that phrase over and over and he wanted to storm out at that very second or at least wipe the smile off _Eliot’s_ face. But of course, that was not what he did. No matter how much he wanted to.

“Great! It would be nice to have an extra pair of hands during our busiest season,” Quentin answers with what he hopes is a genuine smile but probably isn’t, “So Eliot do you have any experience in event planning?” 

“Uhh no,” Eliot admitted, “I have been to several film premieres as an actor. That should count for something, right?” 

Film premieres — film premieres…. Quentin needed to get out of here before he broke the vase of flowers over Eliot’s extremely attractive face. 

Of fucking course. On top of it being the busiest season, he had to hand-hold some new guy who seems to be angling for his job. Because this is his life. 

Quentin just let out a forced laugh which he was pretty certain Eliot can tell was fake.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Quentin said.

“It’s gonna be so much fun!” Jane exclaimed as if this was the best thing that has happened all year.

He loved his boss — he did. Jane gave him a chance when not many would. But right now he just wanted to scream at her. 

Thankfully the party had wound down so he could use that as an excuse to get the hell out of Dodge.

“Jane, remember I told you about my friend’s thing tonight? Do you mind if I cut out a bit earlier?” Quentin asked.

“Yes, of course, you can go, just make sure everyone knows their task. Now if you excuse me, I’m going to go mingle,” Jane said and soon enough Quentin and Eliot were left alone.

Quentin walked towards the kitchen and didn’t realize that Eliot was following him.

“So do you really have something tonight or was that an excuse to get out of Jane’s hair?” Eliot asked curiously. 

“Yes, I do — one of my best friends invited my friends to his apartment. I don’t want to be extra late so if you excuse me I need to finish up here,” Quentin answered as he went through every station and made sure everything was in order. 

“You don’t seem to like me very much, do you?” Eliot asked and Quentin turned to look at him.

“I don’t know you. Now you are a guest at this party, so why don’t you go and enjoy it and leave me to finish my work?” Quentin answered as Eliot put his hands up and walked out of the kitchen. 

Quentin let out a sigh of frustration.

Things were going to get a lot tougher around these parts.

And then he went to look for the cleanup crew to make sure they knew everything they had to do. 

* * *

30 minutes later Quentin was coming into James’ apartment where the gathering was in full-throttle. 

“Q! You came!” James exclaimed as he opened the door. Quentin tried to give him a smile and then headed directly towards the bar area. 

He needed a fucking drink. 

He reached the bar and looked at the choices before grabbing the tequila and a diet coke. Some nights just called for tequila.

“Tequila over whiskey — that’s an interesting choice.”  
  
Quentin turned around and saw a gorgeous woman staring at him. This must be the mysterious girlfriend.

“Sometimes you just need tequila,” Quentin replied.

“And you went for the good stuff — impressive,” she said.

“Well, that is one plus of my job right now. I know what the good alcohol looks like,” Quentin joked and she laughed and stretched out a hand.

“I’m Margo.”

“Quentin,” Quentin said shaking her hand, “I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re James’ mysterious girlfriend?” 

“Well spotted. You’re not just a pretty face.” 

“Process of elimination. You’re the only one in this apartment that I don’t know.”

“For all you know I could be just some random woman.”

“I mean you could be but Vix texted me earlier and said James had brought his girlfriend so —.” 

“Cheeky, I like it,” Margo said and then took a sip of his drink, “It’s good but it could be better.” 

“Bartending is not really on Quentin’s list of attributes,” James said coming towards them.

“He’s cute enough to make up for it though,” Margo smirked.

“So I take it you two have met,” James said with a laugh.

“I was complimenting Quentin on his choice of tequila,” Margo said putting an arm around James.

“He does supply us with good alcohol sometimes, so we keep him around,” James joked, “Let’s join the girls before they start making out on my couch again.” 

They walked back to the living room and sure enough, Julia and Alice were flirting on the couch. Well, Julia was flirting while Alice was trying to read something on her phone. 

“How was the party?” Alice asked as she saw Quentin sit down on one of the couches. Margo and James sat on the loveseat. 

“Considering he went directly for the alcohol, I’m going to say not good,” Julia remarked.

“I don’t want to talk about it — maybe once I’m more drunk,” Quentin said taking a sip of his drink.

“Your friends were regaling me with stories of exes and since you just got here, it’s your turn,” Margo pointed out.  
“I am most definitely not drunk enough for that – not that I have a lot of ex stories,” Quentin said. 

“You don’t have exes?” Margo asked.  
“I technically only have 2 exes, Emily and Penny — well 3 if you count Alice,” Quentin said.

“Which we kind of don’t,” Alice replied.

“You two dated?” Margo wondered looking between the two.

“We just hooked up once and that was it,” Alice said like it was no big deal. And honestly? It really was no big deal.

“But wait — James said that you and Julia are related?” Margo said turning to Quentin and he smiled.

“Yes, my mom and her mom are siblings.” 

“So you two are cousins and you’ve slept with the same person and no problem?” Margo asked curiously.

“It’s a long story,” Quentin said.

“We’ve got time Coldwater,” Margo smiled. 

“Alice and I had been friends for a while, we got drunk after exams and figured why not. After all, we’re two really good looking people so it should go well,” Quentin said laughing as he started to tell the story. 

“It did not?” Margo asked

“It was mediocre,” Alice explained.

“We’re not sexually compatible,” Quentin said and well that was putting things mildly.

“Quentin isn’t great at taking the lead — he needs a lot of direction,” Alice smirked and Margo looked at Quentin with an amused look on her face. He just rolled his eyes and shrugged.

“I do want to say it wasn’t all on me — Alice didn’t really know how to ask for what she wanted either,” Quentin said smiling at his friend.

“It was a bit of a disaster all around,” Alice said. 

“It made things slightly awkward and we realized we are better as friends. So flash forward a month and Alice basically runs into my dorm and hides under the covers,” Quentin said with a smile.

“You make it sound so dramatic,” Alice said.

“I was there, it was _that_ dramatic,” James pointed out. 

“Alice said that she could never leave the room because she’d made a fool of herself in front of a goddess,” Quentin reminisced as Alice blushed into her girlfriend’s arms.

“Long story short we realized that the goddess in question was Julia back from her year abroad,” James said.

“Who was also freaking out about the cute blonde in her class,” Quentin said.

“That’s so cute,” Margo replied.

“We might have made it so they met,” Quentin said remembering the party in question. It was one of the times Quentin was absolutely certain he’d found his calling. 

“Q here threw an incredible party and we’ve been together ever since,” Julia said.

“Parties have the ability to change lives sometimes,” Quentin pointed out and sighed, taking a sip of his drink.

“Wait you dated someone named Penny? Like Penny Lane? Did her parents hate her?” Margo asked and Quentin laughed.

“His real name is William actually. I have no idea where the nickname Penny came from,” Quentin said. 

“He? You just got a lot more interesting Coldwater,” Margo smirked, “Although honestly, I don’t know how I didn’t realize it earlier with the way you’re sitting.” 

“I’ve always said it’s obvious,” Quentin said.

“It really is,” James said.

“My sexuality is the one thing I’m not anxious about,” Quentin replied, “But yeah Penny was my longest relationship actually.”

“What happened?” Margo asked.

“Apparently I’m too much of a workaholic to make any relationship work — his words, not mine,” Quentin said. 

“If it makes you feel better I had an ex tried to change everything about me and then said he knew me better than anyone. We are who we are if people can’t accept that, it’s their loss,” Margo said with a touch of honesty. Quentin smiled at her and she smiled back.

“Cheers to that,” Quentin said clinking his drink with Margo’s.

“So what happened at the party?” Julia wondered as she asked the question that was on everyone’s minds.

“So you know how she said it was an important party right?” 

“Yeah?” 

“She announced that she’s retiring after this Christmas season.” 

“That’s good news, right? It means you get to take the reins?” James asked.

“I have no fucking clue,” Quentin said and proceeds to tell them about what happened next. 

And he might have spent 10 minutes complaining about the entire thing. He complained about Jane’s nonchalant attitude, about Eliot, about how he’s going to have double the workload, and then more about Eliot. He complained about the Thanksgiving theme, and how Jane blindsided him — and he complained about Eliot. Okay yes, most of the complaining was about Eliot but could anyone really blame him?

“I have an important question,” Julia said.

“What is it?” Quentin wondered.

“Is the godson cute?” Julia asked.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Quentin asked.

“Well you have complained about him non-stop so he clearly made an impression,” Julia pointed out. 

“Right now he’s the enemy,” Quentin reminded her.

“But is he an attractive enemy?” Alice asked as Quentin looked at her like she had just betrayed him.

“It’s a non-issue,” Quentin muttered.

“That means that whoever this guy was — Quentin definitely liked him,” James told Margo. 

“I did not!” Quentin exclaimed.

“Q,” James said looking at him and Quentin threw his arms up in the air.

“Fine. Yes, he’s good looking. He’s too fucking attractive for words. It’s unfair. It's like an ethereal being and Oscar Wilde had a baby and that baby knows exactly how good he looks," Quentin complained as he finished up his drink.

“That’s more like it,” Julia smirked.

“It doesn’t matter because he’s obnoxious and thinks that because he’s attended a lot of parties it obviously qualifies him to run them.”

“Have you considered hate sex as an option?” Margo suggested.

“I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t go for me,” Quentin said as Alice and Julia looked at each other. He knew they both thought Quentin was wonderful but he had problems believing it himself.

“Then he’s an idiot,” Margo said leaving no room for argument. Quentin smiled a soft smile at her and she just raised her glass at him. 

“What are you going to do about Jane? Did she say she was giving him the company?” Alice asked.

“She said it’s time for the next generation to take the stage. Then before she introduced him to me she said ‘speaking of the next generation’. So I don’t know what else she could mean,” Quentin said. 

“She had to have meant you, there’s no way she’d give it to anyone else,” Alice said, “you know that company inside and out.” 

“I dedicated my life to this company, I gave up so much already? I don’t know what I’d do if it all goes sideways,” Quentin said worriedly. 

“Don’t you just love nepotism?” Julia muttered into her drink.

“You know what you have to do right?” James asked Quentin. 

“Get another tequila?” Quentin suggested and Margo smiled.

“You need to show Jane how damn good you are at this job. Show her how indispensable you are. How well you know the company. She loves the company so show her that if she leaves it to you it will be in good hands,” James said.

“I always hate it when you have a point,” Quentin said.

“I know,” James replied.

“Tonight though I’m going to drink and try to forget about everything,” Quentin said.

“Sounds like a plan — I’ll drive you home afterward.”

Quentin nodded as the subject changed to Margo retelling the story of how she and James met. Quentin sat back and watched as James and Margo took turns telling the story and interrupting each other. It made him smile to see his friend so happy and he liked Margo. He could tell she was a good person. 

* * *

There’s a small cafe on the corner of his new apartment where Eliot liked to come and have breakfast or lunch. It depends on what time he woke up. Eliot had been back in New York a week and he was still trying to find his footing. Thankfully for him his best friend — and half of his soul really — still lived here. 

Margo and Eliot had met in college — they had both attended NYU but while Eliot had been at Tisch, Margo had attended Stern Business School. They had met during their first days and had created an unshakeable bond. They shared an apartment together, they went on vacation together, they even left to LA after graduation together. And then 2 years ago Margo had gotten an opportunity to open her business in New York so she’d come back to the city. They’d kept in touch and visited but it wasn’t the same as living in the same city. 

Eliot had decided to stay back in Los Angeles because he wasn’t ready to give up. He got a role in a few soap operas but so far nothing major. He’d been losing faith in acting. Then Jane had suggested he come to New York and see if he liked working for her. Jane Chatwin had been a godsend growing up. She was his mother’s best friend so she’d always been Aunt Jane. Her visits had been welcome escapes from the terror that his childhood was. 

Being a queer kid growing up in Indiana in a homophobic family with a violently homophobic father had almost broken his spirit. Jane had been the one that gave him a place to stay after he’d left home. So if he could repay even a slight percentage of what she did for him? He’d do it. 

Of course the party yesterday could have gone better. 

It was clear that Quentin had no idea about him and Eliot was aware he didn’t exactly put his best foot forward but — he’s never been one to know how to act in front of cute guys. 

“I thought I’d find you here,” Margo said sitting down across from Eliot and handing him a coffee.

“Well we did say we’d meet here at this hour so,” Eliot answered.

“I didn’t know if you’d be too hungover to come,” Margo pointed out.

“I barely drank last night.” 

“The party didn’t go as you expected?” Margo asked.  
“You know how my godmother wanted me to come and see if I liked working for her?” Eliot asked.

“Yeah?” 

“Well, apparently she’s retiring. I don’t know who was more shocked me or her right-hand man,” Eliot said.

“Wait what’s your godmother’s company again?” Margo asked as this story was getting shockingly familiar.

“Fillory Festivities it’s —”

“New York’s premier event planning business,” Margo finished his thought.

“You’ve heard of it — of course, you have, it’s you,” Eliot said as Margo nodded.

Technically she had heard of the company. But her current smile was in realizing that Eliot was the man that Quentin spent a lot of time complaining about last night. 

_Oh this was definitely a plot twist._

“What happened that put that look on your face?” Margo asked.

“Jane’s right-hand man — Quentin Coldwater,” Eliot said.

“What about him?” 

“You should have seen how he looked at me. He was so judgmental. It’s party planning, not rocket science you know?” Eliot said as Margo had to bite back a laugh, “I planned some great parties in our day remember?” 

“They were legendary El,” Margo said.

“Exactly — I’m sure this isn’t much different than that. But he just stared at me and then I tried to talk to him when Jane wasn’t around and he completely dismissed me.”

“So you did nothing to warrant the attitude?” 

“I mean maybe it wasn’t the best first impression, and he clearly didn’t know about Jane’s news either but still — I’m really good at what I do,” Eliot remarked.

“It seems like this guy really got under your skin,” Margo said with a smirk.

“He didn’t... I just don’t like being judged you know that,” Eliot said bluffing.

“Mhhm so is he cute?” Margo asked and Eliot almost choked on his food. 

“What?”

“You clearly want this guy’s approval so I’m just wondering if he’s cute. You rarely care about what others think El and you’ve been ranting about this guy since I sat down.”

“From a completely objective point of view then yes he’s attractive but that doesn’t matter,” Eliot said. Yes, Quentin had looked extremely handsome yesterday and maybe Eliot had gone to bed with new content for his wet dreams but the man was very clearly straight. Hence why it didn’t matter. Eliot was done chasing after straight guys — it never ended well. 

“Sure it doesn’t,” Margo says, “just like you clearly don’t want his approval.” 

“I don’t. I just don’t want to let Jane down,” Eliot said

“You have a party tonight, right? Then wow him, show him that you can help,” Margo said.

“I’m good at following directions I can totally do this,” Eliot remarked.

“Of course you can darling,” Margo said, “have you decided if you’re sticking around after the holidays?” 

“I think I might but I’m not sure. But enough about me. You abandoned me yesterday,” Eliot said with a fake pout. He knew she had a good reason but he kind of wished that she’d been at the party with him.

“I know babe but I had a prior engagement you know that.” 

“So how was it? I’m not going to ask if James’ friends liked you because of course, they did. If they didn’t then they’re idiots. But did you like them?” Eliot asked.

“Well, they’re not idiots because I’m sure I made quite a good impression.”

“Bambi, I don’t think you know how to make a bad impression,” Eliot said honestly and Margo smiled at her best friend. She still doesn’t know how she got so lucky to meet him. 

“As for his friends you’d like them. They’re a fun group,” Margo said knowing how much he’d like one member in particular. Honestly, she couldn’t wait to tell James about this new development. 

“Well we’ll have to get together sometime,” Eliot suggested. 

“Sounds like a plan,” Margo agreed before she changed the subject.

Honestly Eliot was so glad to be back in the same city with Margo. 

* * *

Quentin was fighting a bit of a hangover. It wasn’t as bad as it had been earlier in the day but there were echoes of it still there. He probably should have not have drunk as much alcohol as he had the previous night. Thankfully Julia had driven him home. It was one of the upsides to having your cousin and her girlfriend living in the same apartment building as you. 

Originally James was going to drive him but Julia told him to stay with Margo. Quentin had liked Margo, he liked her a lot. He thinks she could be really good for James. Quentin would never admit it out loud but he’d been worried about his friend after the break-up with Julia. He and Kady had always thought Julia and James would be that couple. You know the one that gets married after college and then has the perfect family? 

It just went to show how much people could surprise you. But both Julia and James were happy in their new relationships so Quentin was happy for them. 

Their next party was about to start so he really needed to focus. Quentin was stacking the trays when the reason for his hangover appears.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” Quentin asked when he noticed Eliot looking at him. 

“Is all that stacking really necessary? They’ll devour it in seconds,” Eliot asked staring at the way Quentin was doing the trays. In all honesty, he’d been staring at Quentin’s ass but the man in question didn’t need to know that. 

“Yes, it is really necessary. You eat with your eyes before you eat with your mouth. Presentation matters,” Quentin answered and Eliot just stared, amused.

“Even on a passing tray that they’ll see for 5 seconds?” 

“Yes even on a passing tray. If you don’t like what you see then you’re not going to eat it. If any part of the party doesn’t work then the party as a whole could be a failure,” Quentin remarked.

“That seems a little dramatic don’t you think?” 

Quentin was stopped from answering by Jane and her clipboard coming into the kitchen.

“We’ve got 30 minutes and counting is everyone ready?” Jane asked as Eliot greets her with a kiss on the cheek. 

“You know Quentin — when Ellie was young he was always my special helper. Especially during the Christmas season. He’d wear his little apron and we’d bake cookies or he’d help me wrap presents. It was simply adorable.”

“I’m sure it was,” Quentin said, and as much as he totally does not like Eliot, that _does sound adorable._ The fact that Eliot has a slight blush on his face, makes it even more so. 

“Now he’s all grown up so put him to work. He needs to learn the family business,” Jane said before walking away and Quentin was reminded that _oh right_. 

_Eliot is the competition._

“Let’s find you some work shall we?” Quentin said and walked over to the table with some trays and utensils, “Here you go _Ellie —_ take these to the luncheon table and make sure all the centerpieces are —”

“Centered,” Eliot said interrupting him, “I’m a bit of a fast learner.” 

“Right — of course, you are,” Quentin muttered mostly to himself. Eliot had to hold himself back from rolling his eyes. He was trying to help. 

“What are these?” Eliot asked pointing at the tray, which held pigs in a blanket. He definitely knew what it was but he also wanted to push Quentin’s buttons. 

“Saucisse en croûte,” Quentin answered, impressing Eliot with the french version of the name. 

“They look like pigs in a blanket,” Eliot teased.

“Yes smartass — they’re pigs in a blanket.” 

“Then why don’t you just say that?” Eliot asked, even if he knew the answer.

“We’re trying to make guests feel important. Sadly, saying pigs in a blanket isn’t half as impressive.” 

“But at least they’ll know what they’re eating,” Eliot said and then grabbed the tray and made his way out the door. 

_Breathe Quentin Breathe._

_You can’t murder Jane’s godson on his first official day — wait for like the 4th._

Quentin sighed and tried to center himself before getting back to work. He went with the chef to taste the food — it’s delightful. The honey accent gave it an extra that Quentin wouldn’t have thought of. Then again he honestly cannot cook for the life of him. He could make eggs, grilled cheese, and spectacularly good coffee. But the rest? He was going to leave that to the professionals. 

He fixed a waiter’s tie because it wasn’t perfect and one of the servers asked for his help in deciding what bowl to use. They went with the one with little Christmas trees because ‘tis the season after all. Everything in the kitchen seemed settled and there were no fires to put out, so he went out to the ballroom. Where he saw Eliot talking to a waiter so he made his way over there. 

“Why are you bothering the waiters?” Quentin asked.

“I’m not bothering them I’m just helping out,” Eliot said.

“Yeah, I can tell.”

“But since we’re here let’s test out your theory shall we?” Eliot said smirking. 

“What theory?” Quentin asked with a worried look. 

“Tell me, young sir, would you rather have a saucisse en croûte or a very sleepy pig in a blanket?” Eliot asked, pronouncing the name perfectly. Which made Quentin think that Eliot might just be messing with him.

The young waiter looks between Quentin and Eliot and then at the tray in front of him. 

“I guess — sleeping pig?” 

“Good man,” Eliot responded handing him the tray, “There you go.” 

The waiter could not get out of there fast enough. Eliot was smirking at him and Quentin was annoyed. Why was it that this idiot was his competition again? Oh right, _Nepotism._

“Ratatouille was a simple dish but the fancy name got its own movie,” Quentin pointed out.

“I know — I make a damn good ratatouille, maybe I’ll cook it for you at some point,” Eliot said and Quentin mentally cursed. Of course, Eliot could cook. Not only was that a slight edge over Quentin but it’s also _really hot._ And he was trying really hard to forget how much he was attracted to Eliot Waugh. 

But he was not making it easy for him. 

_The asshole._

“Look I’m all about fancy names and making it so everything looks aesthetically pleasing but there’s a truth you keep forgetting,” Eliot said.

“Enlighten me oh wise one,” Quentin said crossing his arms.

“People are creatures of habit, they like what they know and they know what they like,” Eliot said nonchalantly. 

“Don’t you have a centerpiece to go center or something?” Quentin said pressing his lips together. 

“Check it out,” Eliot pointed to workers centering the centerpieces and Quentin actually did roll his eyes this time.

“Oh that’s great — you delegated your first job.”

“Technically it was my second. I’m quite good at delegation,” Eliot said with a slight close-lipped smile, “It’s just another one of my many leadership skills. Maybe I’ll show you some other ones later.” 

“Go build another tray,” Quentin said trying to ignore his last statement.

“Another pig slumber party coming right up!” Eliot exclaimed as he went towards the kitchen. Quentin went up to the bar and the bartender handed him a shot of tequila which he finished quickly. It was going to be a long night. 

The party was in full effect and Quentin was running around making sure everything was going perfectly. There had been a small crisis in the kitchen but Quentin had fixed it, he always fixed it. Eliot, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found — at least not backstage. 

Jane was standing in the bar area watching the party. The guests were all seated and Jane was staring delightedly at Eliot doing tricks. Quentin came up to her and was glad she couldn’t see his face right now. There was no hiding his annoyance. 

“Look at him — he’s a natural,” Jane said as Eliot started juggling — actually juggling. 

There was a voice in Quentin’s head that pointed out that Eliot was good with his hands but Quentin ignored it. 

“People love him,” Jane added and turned to Quentin who thankfully had schooled his face into a fake smile.

“Yes, yes they do.” 

“I knew it!” Jane exclaimed delightedly.

“Knew what?” Quentin asked with a furrowed brow. 

“It’s in his blood.” 

“How?” Quentin asked, he wasn’t sure if that’s how biology worked.

“His mother was really good at it too — well before she — it doesn’t matter,” Jane said trailing off. 

“Okay.” 

“Take him with you to the Fogg meeting,” Jane said leaving no room for argument.

“Why?” Quentin asked, suddenly scared. Fogg’s Toys was too important to him, was she going to give it to Eliot?

“I want him to see you in action.” 

“Uh — sure. Fine I guess,” Quentin relented, this was his boss after all. Then she winked at him and walked away. 

So now he had to take Eliot of all people to the most important meeting of the season. As if his anxiety wasn’t already through the roof. He looked at the crowd again to see Eliot finishing his little show and then giving a bow.

_Show Off_

* * *

Margo knocked on the door twice before using her key to let herself in. Eliot hadn’t been in the coffee shop so Margo wanted to know what was more important than having lunch with her. If he was hooking up with someone she was never going to let him forget it. Unless he was hooking up with Quentin — then she’d give him a hard time about not texting her but she’d be mostly happy. 

There was no trail of clothing leading up to the bedroom and there were no moans coming from it so it was probably safe to open. Not that she’d never seen Eliot naked. They had on occasion shared a lover and they were best friends. They were extremely comfortable with each other. Which sometimes meant being naked around each other. 

What she found on the other side of the door was not her best friend and a lover but rather just her best friend in a robe pacing around the room. It looked like a tornado had hit. Clothes were everywhere — and she meant _everywhere_ . You could barely see Eliot’s bed underneath.  
  
“Woah what happened here?” Margo asked and that’s when Eliot turned and looked at her.

“Bambi, what are you doing here?” Eliot asked confused.

“You stood me up so I came to see why,” Margo said.

“Wait our lunch date was tomorrow wasn’t it?” Eliot asked.

“No babe, it was today.” 

“Shit. I’m sorry Bambi my head is everywhere,” Eliot admitted. 

He couldn’t believe he’d accidentally stood up his best friend. He sat on his bed moving things around so he wasn’t actually sitting on any of his clothes.

“Anything I can help with darling?” Margo asked sitting down next to him.

“I don’t know what to wear,” Eliot admitted. 

“I can see that — unless you’re redecorating and you’re normally a tad more organized than this.”

“Ha ha.” 

“What is going on? You have impeccable taste so what’s got your brain weasels going a mile per minute?” Margo wondered, “You don’t have a date, do you? You’d tell me if you have a date.”

“No, I don’t have a date.” 

“Then what is it? I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”

“I have a business meeting.”

“That’s it?” Margo asked.

“It’s apparently Jane’s biggest client and their biggest event of the season. Jane told me about it after the party yesterday and then Quentin mentioned it this morning. From the look on his face he’ll kill me if I mess this up. I want to make a good impression because my previous ones haven’t exactly been stellar — which is slightly my fault. So I want to show that I can do this.” 

“You want to impress Quentin,” Margo said with a smirk. 

“Don’t look at me like that — It’s not like that. He’s a coworker that is all.”

“Almost your entire closet has erupted in your bedroom but yes it’s most definitely not like that,” Margo said looking at him with narrow eyes. 

“He doesn’t even like me, he always looks annoyed.” 

“Have you done anything to earn those looks?”

“Maybe,” Eliot said, dragging out the word, “it’s really easy to push his buttons I can’t help it.”

“Maybe try to be civil?” Margo said and then got off the bed and looked at the clothes on the bed and the ones left in the closet, “Okay, you're going to wear the dark grey button-up with the black waistcoat and the dark skinny jeans.” 

“You’re a lifesaver.” 

Eliot grabbed the clothes and went to the bathroom to change. A few minutes later he came out fully dressed and his hair was impeccable.

“You look wonderful,” Margo said.

“What would I do without you?” Eliot asked.

“Now that is a scary thought,” Margo remarked and looked around the chaotic room, “Why don’t you finish getting ready and I’ll attempt to put away your clothes.” 

“That’s oddly nice of you,” Eliot said suspiciously, “What do you want?” 

“Can’t I do something nice for my best friend?” Margo asked sitting back down.

“Yes but I know for a fact that you hate putting away clothing so what gives?” 

“James might have said the L word.” 

“Lesbians?” Eliot joked and then saw the look on Margo’s face, “Oh.” 

Eliot sits down on the bed next to her, “So what do you feel?”

“I don’t know.” 

“Bambi.” 

“Okay fine — I might possibly have _feelings_ for him. Big feelings. He makes me feel safe and happy.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with that. You’re not any less of a badass if you’re in love,” Eliot said.

“Can I just stay here a bit and help you out with your clothes? I need to think before I go home.” 

“That’s perfectly okay darling,” Eliot said giving her a kiss on the forehead, “Just lock up before you leave?” 

“Yes, I will. I love you.” 

“I love you too Bambi,” Eliot said as he grabbed his jacket and his keys and made his way out the door. Leaving Margo alone to her thoughts. 

* * *

Eliot arrived at the restaurant a few minutes before they had agreed to meet up and saw that Quentin is already waiting. Quentin looked really good, his hair was pulled back in a bun and he was wearing a suit without a tie. Eliot cursed the fact that Quentin was straight once again. Quentin saw him and gave him a small smile.

“You’re here early.” 

“You said it was important so I figured tardiness would not be accepted,” Eliot said. 

“You thought right,” Quentin responded with a laugh and then he looked at Eliot’s outfit. 

“Like what you see?” Eliot asked. 

“You look good, the color suits you,” Quentin said and Eliot gave a silent thanks to Margo’s brilliance. 

Then they were greeted by a striking redhead who sets off all of Eliot’s internal alarms. 

“Miss Kline?” Quentin asked extending a hand out which she shook. 

“Call me Poppy — and you must be Quentin Coldwater.” 

“Guilty as charged and this is my associate Eliot Waugh,” Quentin said introducing both of them. 

“It’s a pleasure — shall we go in?” Poppy asked as they followed her inside.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Poppy.” 

“Likewise,” Poppy said as they reached their table, “have you been here before?” 

“No but I know it’s the chef from Loria,” Quentin said and Poppy looked impressed. 

“You’ve certainly done your homework,” Poppy pointed out, “I like that.”

“Well—” Quentin laughed softly, “knowing where the best chefs are is in the job description.” 

“I bet you’ve tasted all kinds of things right?” Poppy said with a wink and Quentin almost choked on his water. Eliot sat down in the seat in front of Poppy and just braced himself for whatever this woman was going to say next. 

“That’s one way to look at it.” 

“Well you are the best in the business,” Poppy said. 

“I don’t know about that —” Quentin said softly. 

“Don’t be bashful. You’re not the only one that has done their homework.” Poppy said while playing with her hair and looking directly at Quentin, “I read the Times article on the company. It might have had Jane’s photographs but you had all the quotes.”

“I’m more of a behind the scenes type of guy,” Quentin said.

“A true pity when you’re as handsome as you are,” Poppy said as Quentin let out a nervous laugh and Eliot narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. 

“So let’s get to business shall we?” Quentin asked trying to move the conversation along.

“That is what we’re here for,” Eliot said. 

“So Fogg’s Toys,” Quentin started to say before getting interrupted.

“You’ll have to excuse me — Fogg’s Toys is a bit of a new acquisition for Whitespire. Our portfolios might be big on numbers but we’re sadly short on traditions. Tell me about this Christmas shindig.” 

“Well, the party and Henry Fogg are both very near and dear to my heart. Without getting into too many details — as a child, it changed my life. It’s kind of the main reason why I got into this business. Event planning I mean,” Quentin said looking mostly at Eliot but also a bit at Poppy. Eliot was positively charmed by how much Quentin cared. 

“Well that’s definitely some endorsement — now we’re most definitely going to do it,” Poppy said surprised at the story. Her comment made Eliot quirk his brow. 

“Were you thinking of not doing it?” Eliot asked. 

“It’s a numbers game, Eliot. Everything is a question of money — such is the world we live in, right?” Poppy asked and Eliot bit back the comment he was going to make. 

Remember this was a business meeting. It was important to Jane ~~(and Quentin).~~

“Are you feeling lucky Quentin?” Poppy asked.

“Why do you ask?” Quentin wondered.

“Because it’s your lucky day. I want to give you the answer you want to hear.” 

“Well that’s —” Quentin said and had started to go through his binder before he was interrupted again by Poppy. 

“Do you like Christmas Lights Quentin?” 

“Yes?” Quentin asked with a furrowed brow. 

“Are you off Monday night?” Poppy asked and Eliot’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

  
Was she really asking Quentin out on a date in the middle of a _business meeting?_ The nerve of this woman. Quentin seemed to be in shock so Eliot answered for him.

“We’re just like the theater we’re dark Mondays and Tuesdays.”

“And I always have a lot of work to do — it’s our busiest season and all that,” Quentin said. 

“I’m not going to take no for an answer,” Poppy said with a sultry smile. 

“I — uh.”

“So you’re definitely having dinner with me on Monday night right?” Poppy asked and Eliot actually did roll his eyes this time. 

“How can you be so sure?” Quentin asked.

“I know you will because I’m going to take you to see the most amazing Christmas lights display you have ever seen in your life.”

“How can I say no to that?” Quentin relented. 

“Easily,” Eliot muttered under his breath. 

“Fantastic.” Poppy said smiling at Quentin and all Eliot could think of was that he needed a drink.

The rest of the meeting went about the same. The food in the restaurant was delicious but Eliot couldn’t really think about it because Poppy spent the entire time attempting to flirt with Quentin. Was this really the best Whitespire had? Eliot couldn’t believe he was forced to endure this straight nonsense. He knew it was the season of giving but this was too much for him. Poppy hadn’t listened to a word they had said all evening. 

He honestly hoped that Margo’s evening went better than this — because this was a _trainwreck._ And why would Quentin be interested in Poppy? She’s just so _ugh._ He honestly thought that Quentin would have had better taste. There was a voice in his head — _that sounded like Margo_ — that told him he was jealous. But no — he was most certainly not jealous. 

He just doesn’t like the lack of professionalism — _that was all._

* * *

The business meeting the previous day had been weird as fuck — Quentin could admit to that much. He’d gone in expecting to do a simple pitch and maybe start working on the basics for the party. He didn’t expect Eliot to arrive early to the meeting and he certainly didn’t expect him to look as damn good as he looked.

Honestly, it was just not fair. Why did one man have to look so good? 

Was the universe just out to torture Quentin?

_The universe was definitely out to torture Quentin._

Poppy inviting him out had definitely been a surprise. He wasn’t going to agree but he’d been curious and Eliot had looked so annoyed so he’d had to say yes. But he didn’t take the date to bother Eliot. Nope, he just — was curious about Poppy. That was all. Also the lights — _yes the lights._ Quentin loved Christmas lights and Poppy was good looking so it should work. 

It had nothing to do with Eliot in the slightest.

_Speak of the devil._

Eliot appeared with a coffee with two coffees and handed one to Quentin. Before he set off to complain about Poppy. 

“She didn’t even hear a word about the party! She was too busy making innuendos and trying to flirt with you. Then she asked you out on a date in the middle of a business meeting. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite as unprofessional as that.”

“Thanks for the insight Eliot but guess what? My personal life? That is my business so stay out of it,” Quentin said as he headed towards the building and is stopped by Eliot.

“I’m just saying I know people like that. I used to be like that. Totally smooth, they don’t care about anything. She probably even has veneers! Not that I had but she definitely seems like the type.”

“Are you really talking about her teeth?” Quentin asked incredulously.

“I just — be careful.” 

“Teeth? Really?” 

“Well, teeth bite!” Eliot exclaimed and then mentally slapped himself. _Teeth? That was your big argument Waugh?_

“We really don’t have time for this Eliot — we have a party tonight and there’s a lot we need to do before then,” Quentin said as Eliot opened the door for them to go inside. 

Just like that the matter was dropped. Quentin was glad for it because he had no idea what he was going to say next. 

* * *

Eliot was sitting down at the cafe waiting for Margo to arrive. He owed her for leaving her hanging the day before. Plus he did want to know about how things went with James the previous night. If that man did anything to hurt his Bambi he’d have Eliot to deal with.

He was still thinking about the argument he’d had with Quentin in the morning. Going out with Poppy was a terrible idea why couldn’t Quentin see that? 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Margo said arriving at their usual table with their coffees and paninis for both of them. 

“I don’t really want to think about it right now — how did things go last night?” Eliot said changing the subject as Margo sat down. 

“Well, I organized your closet via color and situation. Your casual wear is on one side, then you have your formal wear and your seasonal outfits,” Margo said.

“Bambi.” 

“Yes, El?” 

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about,” Eliot said staring at her, “But thank you anyway.” 

“You’re welcome,” Margo said, “But fine.”

“Go on.” 

“So I went home after organizing your closet. James was there obviously. Julia was also there and she stared at me in the weirdest way.” 

“His ex was there? What do you mean she stared at you?” Eliot asked.

“They’re good friends. Apparently, at this point they’ve been friends longer than they were together. It’s fine, she’s not bad actually. But like I was saying, the way she looked it was like half-glare and half-understanding? Honestly, I never understood why they kept saying the other night that they only ever let Julia or Kady do the shovel talk — but _I get it_ now.”

“Did she give you the shovel talk?” Eliot asked amused at the idea of anyone giving his best friend the shovel talk. 

“She didn’t — at least not this time. Maybe in the future, she will — is it bad I kind of want to experience that?” 

“Has anyone ever given you the shovel talk?” 

“No — but mostly because I’ve never really had a relationship like this one. James has more than one friend and they all care about each other.”

“Seems fake but okay,” Eliot joked. 

“Right? But it seems like they accepted me,” Margo said proudly.

“Well of course they did — if they’d hadn’t we’d have to have some words.” 

“I’m pretty sure most of that group could kick your ass,” Margo said amused.

“It’s the thought that counts okay?” Eliot laughed, “So Julia looked at you then what happened?”

“She left and James and I talked.” 

“You talked or _talked?”_ Eliot said with a wink. 

“I mean we actually had an actual conversation about our feelings and emotions. We had sex as well — and it was really good sex — but that came later.” 

“So you Margo Hanson had an actual conversation about feelings and you didn’t run away?” Eliot asked surprised — Margo was about as comfortable with talking about feelings as Eliot was. Which is to say not comfortable at all. 

“I know — I’m surprised too.” 

“Well I’m proud of you Bambi, you’re growing up.” 

“Well thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Eliot said as they clinked their coffees together in a toast.

“We talked about our parents and how they had fucked us over in unique and particular ways. I told him about my dad and he talked about his ex. Then we talked about our chosen families. I talked about how you’re the only person I ever felt confident in saying I love you too — and how his friends are his rock. He said I didn’t have to say the words back to him. He just said that because he wanted me to know not because he expected anything in return.” 

Eliot listened as Margo spoke and while he was mostly happy for his best friend a part of him — no matter how small — was slightly jealous. He wanted that. He’d had a few relationships but nothing like what Margo was describing. He felt like a terrible person for being jealous of Margo’s happiness. Especially because he knew how hard Margo had fought for it — and how lonely she had been. He’d known from the first week when Margo told him she was going on another date with James that it would be different. But he didn’t anticipate the ~~very slight~~ jealousy. 

“So did you tell him?” Eliot asked.

“I did — I think it was knowing that he wasn’t expecting it that made it easier?” Margo asked.

“So would you say you made love last night?” Eliot said smirking at her and making her laugh.

“You’re the worst.” 

“You love me for it.” 

“Maybe I do.” 

“You didn’t answer the question though.” 

“Yes fine — we made love. That phrase still bothers me though.” 

“I know it’s why I used it,” Eliot said sipping on his coffee.

“Enough about me how was your big business meeting?” 

Eliot audibly sighs and rolls his eyes, “it was a complete and utter disaster. The worst kind of trainwreck.”

“You didn’t get the account?”

“No, we got the account.” 

“Then why was it a trainwreck?”

“The business side was mostly solid. It’s just the woman we met was unbearable.” 

“What did she do?” 

“She barely let us get a word in. She kept making innuendo after innuendo and she kept trying to flirt with Quentin.”

“Oh really?” Margo asked curiously.

“Yes and that wasn’t even the worst part,” Eliot said annoyed.

“What was the worst part?” 

“She just asked him out, right in the middle of a business meeting. It was so fucking unprofessional. He had just given this pitch about why the party was important to him and how it had changed his life as a child. He was so earnest and cute and she’s like well I guess we’ll take it. Like she wasn’t considering it before!” 

Margo smirked at Eliot’s rambling. She didn’t think he had noticed how his eyes had softened when he talked about Quentin. But this entire situation was amusing her to no end.

“And then she’s like I’m not going to take no for an answer. Quentin actually said yes? Can you believe it? Some men just go crazy with a pair of boobs, don’t they? So apparently they’re going to dinner on Monday to see the “ _Best Christmas Lights You’ve Ever Seen_ ,” Eliot said mockingly. 

“You seem highly bothered by all of this.”

"I’m not bothered — it’s just unprofessional.” 

“You know what you sound like right?”

“What do I sound like?” 

“You sound jealous.” 

“I am most definitely not jealous. Not in the slightest. I just thought he’d have better taste in women that is all.” 

“Sure that’s all there is?”

“I am 100% sure.” 

“If you say so.” 

“Speaking of Quentin — you wouldn’t believe what he said.”

“What did he say?” Margo asked.

“So I was telling him my thoughts on his decision to go on a date with _Poppy,”_ Eliot said putting emphasis on Poppy’s name. 

“I bet that went well,” Margo said with a smile, knowing Eliot (and knowing Quentin) she knew that conversation was probably a disaster.

“He said his personal life was his business and that I should just stay out of it.” 

“I mean — he’s not entirely wrong.”

“Et Tu?” Eliot said placing a hand on his heart.

“Hey hear me out. If you’re not interested in him, then why do you care about who he goes out with?”  
“I don’t.” 

“The rant you just had proved otherwise.”

“I just thought he had better taste than that? She’s so freaking conceited.”

“What does she look like?” Margo asked curiously.

“She’s a redhead.”

“Natural or fake?”

“I think it’s natural but enhanced,” Eliot said.

“Is she good looking?” 

“She’s definitely not my type.” 

“I never said she was,” Margo said, “But come on, I know you notice these things El.”

“Okay fine she’s kind of gorgeous but the moment she opens her mouth it’s all over,” Eliot admitted.

“But you’re definitely not jealous right?” Margo smiled knowingly.

“Oh look at the time I have to get home and get ready because I have a party tonight.”

“Yes and you have to impress your coworker who you’re totally not crushing on,” Margo pointed out. 

“I’m not going to dignify that with a response.”

“You just did.” 

Eliot walked out of the coffee shop and Margo just watched him leave. She loved her best friend but he could be really dumb at times.


	2. Of Decorating & Bad Dates

Another night meant another party. Another event in which Quentin had to see Eliot. Which was turning out to be both good and bad. 

Quentin walked into the ballroom to see Eliot standing on the first step of a step-ladder fixing up the garland on the top of the bar. This made Quentin feel two things, the first was annoyance at how tall Eliot was. Which, by the way, was so unfairly sexy it truly wasn’t fair. Did he really have to be that tall? 

The second was that Eliot had a great ass. A truly fantastic ass. 

But this was not important Quentin, you just need to ask what you needed to ask.

“Hey Eliot, where’s Jane?” 

Eliot turns his entire body around in the step-ladder and looks at him. 

“It’s just going to be me tonight.” 

It was very rare for Jane to miss a party — especially in the Holiday season. 

“What happened? Is she okay?” Quentin asked worriedly. 

“It’s just a cold Quentin, she’ll be fine,” Eliot remarked with a smile then stood up straight and put an arm on his hip, “She did fill me in though and I am definitely up for the challenge.”  
  
Of course, the only response he got was Quentin letting out another disbelieving laugh. He shook his head and looked at Eliot.

“You have literally no experience in any of this,” Quentin remarked.

“Maybe not on paper but I’ll have you know The Party with Peter Sellers is my favorite movie,” Eliot said sounding completely serious.

Quentin just stared at him incredulously, “What?” 

“Actually I’m kidding. It’s a terrible movie I couldn’t even watch half of it. It wasn’t funny and I hate it when actors do brownface. Does it even have a plot? I can’t remember. I just remember I almost fell asleep watching and I couldn’t believe people found it funny,” Eliot admitted.

“Are you just trying to push my buttons?” Quentin asked. 

“A little bit,” Eliot said with a smirk as he gestured with his hand to show the amount. But Quentin just rolled his eyes at him. So Eliot tried to change the subject, “do you like the lights?” 

Eliot had been working on putting the garland with the lights on top of the bar. He looked very proud of it and Quentin had to admit it was endearing. 

“I really like it. You did a good job,” Quentin complimented and Eliot actually beamed, like Quentin’s opinion actually mattered to him. 

“Thanks.” 

“You know it kind of reminds me of —?” Quentin started to say before Eliot interrupted. 

“Fogg’s Toys.” 

“Yes, exactly,” Quentin said slightly in awe. 

“Yeah, I thought it would,” Eliot said.

“Have you ever gone to the party?” Quentin asked surprised. 

“I went a few times when I was little. My mother would bring me and my youngest brother and we’d spend the holidays with Aunt Jane. She always took us to Fogg’s Christmas Party,” Eliot said with a fond expression on his face. 

“You have siblings?” Quentin asked.

“3 brothers — we don’t really talk,” Eliot said and looked away from Quentin as if embarrassed to have admitted that. Quentin wondered if there was more to the story but knew it was not his place.

“I am an only child, I have cousins but not all of them like me very much. Except for Julia of course,” Quentin replied. 

“I find it impossible for anyone not to like you,” Eliot admitted.

“You’d be surprised.” 

And now it was Quentin that looked away. Not wanting to think about all the people that decided Quentin wasn’t good enough. He had a job to do after all. 

“Hey, Quentin can you help me with something?” Eliot asked, coming down from the steps.

“What do you need?” Quentin asked curiously.

“I just need you to climb on the ladder and help me with the lights?” 

“Okay,” Quentin said stepping onto the ladder.

“Just hold this right there, yeah it’s great uh great,” Eliot said as their hands touched. 

Would it be terribly cliche of Quentin to say he felt a jolt from the touch? Because he did. Enough that it made him quickly move his hand. These stupid emotions were not going to get in the way of his work. 

Hopefully. 

They worked together in silence, making sure the garland with the lights looked good. Until Quentin felt the need to break the silence. 

“Do you remember the fake snow at Fogg’s party?” Quentin asked.

“Of course I do — it was one of my favorite parts of it,” Eliot admitted.

“Well you can’t use it anymore, it gets into the ducts and damages them over time. So you actually cannot insure it. You can’t learn that from a film premiere,” Quentin told him cheekily and Eliot actually laughs. 

“Say what you want about LA but it was just one big party. It’s glitz and spectacle. Glitz, glamour and everything in between,” Eliot said but there was something in his voice that Quentin couldn’t quite recognize. 

“Do you really think that’s all there is to a party?” Quentin asked coming down from the steps, “the glitz and spectacle? Parties can change lives too.” 

“A few parties changed my life when I was younger. I had my first kiss at a party, also my first f—” Eliot joked.

“You’re a child,” Quentin interrupted, “I am done with this conversation.” 

Every time he seemed to get a peek beyond Eliot’s exterior image he got shut down. It was very tiring. Then his phone rang, it was Jane. 

“Hey Jane,” Quentin answered.

 _“Quentin darling I’m feeling dreadful — I won’t be able to make it tonight.”_

“Yeah I heard.” 

_“If you need anything just tell Eliot, he’s your man tonight.”_

“Yeah — Eliot’s my man,” Quentin retorted, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice. 

“Perfect, I’ll leave you to it,” Jane said as she started coughing. 

“Of course, feel better,” Quentin said before hanging up the phone and pursing his lips. 

Take a deep breath, Quentin. 

“Told you, I’m your man,” Eliot smirked. 

“Yeah, I heard,” Quentin muttered. 

“So put me in coach I’m ready to play,” Eliot said.

“Bartender — you think you can handle that?” Quentin asked as Eliot’s eyes light up. 

“I worked long nights as a bartender in LA, I am quite spectacular at it,” Eliot mentioned with a smile and Quentin just walked away. He needed to get away from the bar right this second. 

Of course, Eliot would be a bartender. He can cook, he can make drinks, what can’t he do? 

* * *

It turned out that Eliot had not been bluffing when he said he was a spectacular bartender. Everyone seemed charmed by his wit and his drinks. People kept ordering strange drinks to see if he could make them — and he could. No matter how strange, he made the drink. 

Meanwhile, Quentin was dealing with everything he normally dealt with. Checking that the food was good and on time. Making sure the servers were on track with everyone, that the hors d'oeuvres didn’t run out. Now he needed to get more wine. Which meant going toward the bar where all the people were gathered watching Eliot work. 

Okay yes, the tricks were impressive. He was actually juggling the bottles. First, it was on his hand then on his back, Eliot managed to throw bottles in the air and then catch them and serve drinks. 

If Quentin attempted even a smidge of that all the bottles would be broken on the ground and they would be out of drinks. 

Everyone clapped as he finished the drink and then Quentin saw how he addressed some of the ladies watching, “Ladies, what do you get when you cross a vampire with a snowman? Frostbite.”

Quentin actually groaned at the joke. That was actually really fucking terrible. But all the lemmings laughed of course. So he approached the table. 

“Quentin Coldwater — the man in charge,” Eliot greeted. 

“More wine please?” Quentin asked, putting the tray on the counter.

“So you’re serving now?” Eliot wondered.

“I help when help is needed. That’s part of _my_ leadership skills,” Quentin replied with a smirk of his own recalling Eliot’s comment about leadership skills. From his smile, he guessed Eliot was thinking of the same thing. Or at least he hoped he was. 

“While I’m getting some wine why don’t you tell us a joke,” Eliot suggested and then everyone turned to look at Quentin. Quentin started getting nervous, his hands got clammy and he looked around the room.

“I’m not all that funny.”

“Just one joke, we have a wonderful audience that laughs at everything — and I do mean everything. Mostly due to the great drinks I’ve been pouring,” Eliot laughed with the audience but all Quentin could do was back away. 

“I — I — think there’s more wine in the kitchen,” Quentin stammered and got out of there before it got worse. 

Quentin reached the kitchen and walked towards one of the counters trying to catch his breath. He took a deep breath and focused on his breathing closing his eyes and trying to let it all pass. He tuned out the sounds of the party and counted backward from 20. 

He opened his eyes to see Eliot looking at him from the other side of the counter. 

“What do you want now?” Quentin asked frowning. 

“I’m sorry I just — I wanted to apologize,” Eliot said with slumped shoulders, “I’m sorry Quentin I just wanted to lighten things up.”

“I produce the parties — I don’t need to be part of the opening act,” Quentin said, in fact, he preferred not to be the entertainment.

“I honestly didn’t mean to embarrass you out there,” Eliot answered putting a hand through his hair. 

“I’m not great at being put on the spot — it flares up my anxiety,” Quentin admitted crossing his arms.

“Once again — I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t mean...,” Eliot trailed off. 

“It’s fine you didn’t know. Apology accepted,” Quentin said and Eliot smiled at him in a way that made his heart flutter. It wasn’t the smile he’d seen before but rather a softer one. It seemed a lot more genuine than the rest. 

“Sometimes I forget to be human rather than well — that,” Eliot admitted and Quentin hoped he didn’t regret what he was about to do. 

“Do you have plans tomorrow?” Quentin asked.  
“There’s no party tomorrow so not at the moment,” Eliot said with a curious expression. 

“My friends and I are decorating my apartment and Christmas tree tomorrow, it’s the first day all of us are free. You could come if you wanted to,” Quentin asked fiddling with his hair. He’d decided against the man-bun today so it kept falling over his ear.

“You’re inviting me to your place?” Eliot asked softly. 

“You don’t have to — I just thought — you could meet more people. If you wanted,” Quentin said biting his lower lip.

“No, I mean yes I’d love to go,” Eliot said.

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Okay so um this is my address, you can get there around 5?” Quentin asked taking his phone out of his pocket and sending Eliot the address to his apartment. Trying very hard not to think about the fact that he’d just invited Eliot to his apartment.

“I’ll be there,” Eliot smiled.

“Well you should — get back to the bar,” Quentin reminded him.

“Right yes, back to the bar,” Eliot said practically jumping out of his skin as he left through the doors again.

That’s when it hit Quentin. 

_He’d invited Eliot to his apartment._

_He’d invited Eliot to his apartment when his friends were going to be there._

Holy shit Coldwater, you’ve really done it now. 

* * *

Eliot Waugh might be internally freaking out. He hadn’t been this nervous since — well ever. He’d changed his outfit like four thousand times, and this time not even Margo could help. She was with James today and he hadn’t really been able to talk to her. 

Although he knew what she would say. She’d try to argue that Eliot was nervous that Quentin had invited him to his apartment to meet his friends. But Eliot knew that Quentin was just being friendly. He’s still very straight — he’d basically confirmed it when they accidentally touched hands and Quentin couldn’t pull away fast enough. 

But it was fine. It was totally fine. Eliot could be just friends with Quentin. And honestly, he’d been realizing he really wanted to be friends with Quentin. Which meant he had to stop putting his foot in his mouth every time they were in the same room together. He hoped the fact that Quentin had actually invited him to meet his friends was a good omen. It had to be _right?_

You didn’t invite someone to meet your friends if you didn’t like them. Either way, he had baked some brownies as a peace offering, just in case. And because he’d always heard that you should never show up empty-handed.

He arrived at the apartment door and triple checked that he had the right one before knocking on the door. The door opened to reveal a beautiful brunette who gave him a very obvious once-over and then laughed. 

“Is this Quentin’s apartment?” Eliot asked. 

“I’m guessing you’re the famous Eliot?” She asked, and her tone made him curious about what she’d heard. Probably nothing good. 

“And you are?” 

“Julia Wicker, best friend, and cousin,” Julia greeted holding out a hand for him to shake which he did. 

“Can I come in?” 

“Well, ‘tis the season of giving,” Julia said stepping aside for him to come inside. 

“I brought these — I made them myself,” Eliot mentioned and Julia looked slightly impressed but like she didn’t want to admit to it. 

“I will put these on the table,” Julia said as she took the pyrex with brownies and walked away.

Quentin’s apartment was charming. It’s a good size and he could see a fireplace in the middle of the living room, there were three stockings on it. The famous tree was in the prime spot. Because of course, it was. He didn’t actually see the man himself yet but there was a blonde arguing with a tall good looking guy. 

But the most surprising thing was when Margo, _his Margo,_ went over to the guy and put an arm around him.

“Bambi?” Eliot asked surprised, she turned to look at him and smiled delightedly.

“El! You actually came!” Margo exclaimed as she ran to hug him.

“What are you doing here?” Eliot tried again.

“Funny story, James is actually best friends with Quentin and his group,” Margo admitted.

“So I get to meet the famous James?” Eliot replied delightedly. 

“In a minute yes,” Margo said, “he’s arguing something with Alice — I lost track about ten minutes ago.”

“How long have you known?” Eliot wondered.

“Oh honey I’ve known from the start — or well almost,” Margo said.

“You couldn’t go to the party because you were meeting James friends’,” Eliot recalled.

“Exactly.” 

“So when I —,” Eliot trailed off, not knowing how to say “when I was ranting about Quentin over and over” without revealing everything to everyone.

“Oh yes — it was a story that sounded vaguely familiar. Almost like I’d heard it the night before,” Margo replied cheekily.

Just as Quentin came back from wherever he was and saw Eliot.

“Eliot — you actually came,” Quentin said surprised.

“You sound so surprised,” Eliot smiled as Quentin ran a hand through his hair. 

“I guess I wasn’t expecting it,” Quentin admitted.

“You did invite me,” Eliot said suddenly nervous, had it been a pity invite? Maybe he shouldn’t have come.  
“I did — and I… I’m glad you’re here,” Quentin said and Eliot broke into a smile.

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” 

Eliot could hear Margo mumbling something under her breath but Quentin was smiling at him so that was all that mattered. 

“So I’m guessing you know Margo?” Quentin joked.  
“Well she has been my best friend for almost a decade,” Eliot retorted as Quentin quirked an eyebrow at Margo, and damn if that wasn’t _a look._

“I thought it would be a lot more fun if you two figured it out yourselves,” Margo smirked.

“She does like her chaos,” Eliot said and Quentin nodded grabbing Eliot’s arm, which no _that did not drive him crazy thank you._

“I’ll introduce you,” Quentin said taking him to the group where the other three were standing, “so you met my cousin Julia Wicker, this is her girlfriend and good friend of mine Alice Quinn and Margo’s boyfriend James.”  
“I can’t believe I’ve been relented to the role of boyfriend,” James jokingly complained. 

“Maybe we just like her more than you,” Alice teased.

“That wounds me Quinn — deeply,” James said.

“You’ll get over it,” Alice replied.

“18 years I’ve been here and now I’m the boyfriend,” James joked as Margo went to hug him.

“It’s okay not everyone can be as fabulous as me,” Margo told him.

“Well I couldn’t have lost to a worthier opponent,” James said staring at Margo with hearts in his eyes. 

Eliot was sure that if they were in a cartoon right now there would literally be hearts where the eyes should be.

“Are you done being dramatic yet?” Quentin replied amused.

“Pot meet Kettle,” was James’ only answer, which Eliot had to admit, made him laugh.

“Guys this is Eliot Waugh, we work together,” Quentin said.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Eliot said.

“I’m really glad you’re here El, no one else is as good at making drinks and I want Eggnog,” Margo said.

“I’m at my Bambi’s disposal,” Eliot said with a small bow which made her roll her eyes. He always loved teasing Margo.

Margo dragged him to the kitchen but he could hear Quentin’s laughter echoing. The sound of his laughter made Eliot feel warm inside in ways he didn’t want to acknowledge just yet. He just knew that it made him happy to hear Quentin happy. Margo just smiled at him and didn’t say a word.

Which if they were being honest? Was always much scarier than when Margo actually spoke. It was the things that Margo didn’t say that could break a person. But in this case she just smiled and directed him to all the ingredients and there was enough so he decided to make eggnog for everyone, not just Margo. 

That would definitely get Quentin’s friends to like him right? Not that he needed them to like him. It was probably just easier that way. Especially if they were Margo’s friends too. Eliot had learned pretty quickly into their friendship that it was in his best interest to keep Margo happy. And this would make her happy — that was all there was to it.

* * *

Eliot came back into the room with a pitcher of eggnog and placed it on the table. There were opened boxes by the tree that contained ornaments and Eliot saw Quentin and Julia arguing about how they should be decorating the tree. 

  
“They always do this — every year without fail, there’s an argument about how the tree is decorated,” Alice said coming up to him. 

“Oh really?” Eliot asked amused.

“They have very different styles and those don’t go well together in a tree. One year we tried to do both on the same tree... It was a trainwreck,” James added.

“Why don’t you just rotate?” Margo asked.

“We usually do except last year it was Julia’s turn and it kind of looked terrible and clashed with everything because she decided to go more eclectic,” James said wincing in remembrance. 

“Technically this year is James’ turn to pick and if he doesn’t he has to cede the floor to one of them,” Alice explained.

“It’s terrifying,” James added.

“Your face is terrifying,” Julia remarked. 

“Your shit talk needs work Wicker,” James replied but Julia just shrugged.

“The eggnog is ready? Let’s see if you’re as good as advertised Waugh,” Julia said going over to the table and gets herself and her girlfriend some eggnog.

“Oh, he is,” Margo said putting her arms around Eliot. 

“You’re biased — neither your opinion or Q’s count,” Julia argued earning a complaint from Quentin.

“Hey!” Quentin said coming over to the group. 

“You were the one going on about it earlier,” Julia pointed out and Quentin turned away.

“Were you talking me up Coldwater?” Eliot asked.

“I just said you were a good bartender,” Quentin said sheepishly, “That’s all.” 

“Sure it was,” Alice muttered and he could hear Julia snort as a look from Quentin shut them up. 

Was Quentin talking about him to his friends? What was he saying? 

“So Verdict?” Eliot asked cheekily. 

“You’re as good as advertised,” Julia said taking a sip and handing Alice her own glass.

“This is spectacular,” Alice said after having a drink and looked at Quentin, “Can we keep him?” 

“I mean that is up to him,” Quentin replied but Eliot could swear he was blushing. Why would Quentin be blushing?

“It’s just good to have someone around that actually knows how to make eggnog,” Alice said.

“Alice really loves eggnog,” Quentin explained. 

“We had no one in the group that had succeeded in making good eggnog, Quentin didn’t even attempt it, James was an unmitigated disaster all 4 times he tried, Kady is usually away during this time of year and Julia should not be allowed near kitchens.”

“I am not as bad at Quentin!” Julia exclaimed.

“Hey we’re talking about you not me right now,” Quentin argued.

“Oh no please tell me more about Quentin,” Eliot asked as he got his own glass of eggnog and smirked at Quentin.

“Well the truth is that Quentin is very good at very many things,” Julia started

“Parties!” Alice shouted.

“Nerd stuff!” James replied.

“Cards!” Alice said.

“Magic tricks!” James added and Eliot could see Quentin getting redder and redder as they kept shouting things. Margo looked very amused.

“But he is an absolutely terrible cook,” Julia finished.

“But your job is around food,” Eliot asked curiously.

“I know what good food is and how to recognize it — I just… can’t cook it,” Quentin explained with a shrug.

“Nothing at all?” Eliot wondered.

“I can make eggs, quesadillas, cereal, waffles, and grilled cheese sandwiches.” 

“Do grilled cheese sandwiches count as food though?” Eliot asked.

“Here we go,” Margo laughed as James handed her a glass of eggnog. 

“American cheese is not actually cheese, it’s processed nonsense. You know that legally, Kraft singles can’t actually be called cheese. That’s how little cheese they contain,” Eliot ranted, “and there’s so much good cheese out there, it’s ridiculous.”

“We know honey,” Margo said.

“I like him,” Alice just replied and Eliot might have beamed a bit. 

“In Q’s defense he does make really good coffee, I don’t know how but it’s spectacularly good,” James said.

“I’m glad someone appreciates me in this place,” Quentin said with a hand over his heart.

“I’ve got you, bro,” James replied. 

“Nerds,” Margo said looking at them with a fond expression. One that Eliot wasn’t used to seeing directed at people other than himself. So it was definitely something new. 

“So what else needs decorating before the tree?” Eliot asked.

“You could help Quentin hang the wreath at the door, seeing as you are tall enough,” Julia suggested. James looked like he was about to say something when Margo elbowed him. 

Eliot knew enough to not ask. 

“I would love to help,” Eliot said and Quentin smiled at him. Then they walked towards the door and Quentin handed Eliot a hammer and a nail for the door. Thankfully Eliot did know how to do this. Thank fuck for his LA apartment where he had to basically put up everything himself. He learned how to use a hammer. 

Quentin handed him the wreath and Eliot couldn’t help but notice that it was a reindeer’s head. Most of the decorations involved reindeer in some way and Eliot found that strangely endearing. So he just smiled as he put it on the door. Admiring his handiwork. It’s not every day Eliot Waugh did manual labor after all.

“What’s with the smile?” Quentin asked.

“Can’t I just be happy?” Eliot retorted.

“Sure you can but you look oddly amused at something,” Quentin pointed out.

“I just noticed how much of your decorations are reindeer themed,” Eliot answered.

“I — yeah. I love Christmas but none of us are particularly religious in any way.”

“Oh really?” Eliot asked, he really enjoyed getting a peek behind the curtain of who Quentin Coldwater was. 

“I was raised Catholic, so were Jules and James. Kady’s dads are Jewish, and Alice well her parents are technically polytheistic? They’re very weird. I’ve only met them once or twice,” Quentin admitted.

“My family was religious as well but — that was never for me,” Eliot said and Quentin nodded as if he understood what Eliot was saying, and perhaps he did. They walked back inside while talking. 

“We are more of the commercial idea of Christmas. It’s a time to be with the people you love and those aren’t always your biological family. Sometimes it’s the family you create for yourself,” Quentin admitted.

“Trust me I understand that,” Eliot said, thinking of Jane and Margo. They were the people he considered his family. 

“And for the record, we don’t just have reindeer, there’s also a lot of Santas, some snowmen and a one-eyed Moose,” Quentin said. 

“A one-eyed Moose?” Eliot asked curiously and Quentin actually beamed as they walked toward the front of the apartment and sure enough there it was. A one-eyed moose. To be fair it wasn’t actually a one-eyed moose, it was just missing the bead for one of its eyes. The moose had a full Christmas outfit, red hat, black boots, red scarf and a grey sweater with red hearts all over it. It was actually very adorable.

“This is my moose child,” Quentin said as if he was a proud parent.

“Your moose child is very adorable.”

“Thank you — Julia keeps saying I should fix the eye but I like it this way. It adds character,” Quentin explained.

“Hey this makes your moose unique, not everyone can say they have a one-eyed Christmas moose. I think he has personality,” Eliot said smiling at Quentin and Quentin smiled back and for a moment everything was perfect. 

Then the group called their names and the moment was broken. 

And so they made their way back to the living room where Margo and James were sitting on the couch and Alice was selecting the music.

“It took you two quite a bit to put up a Christmas wreath,” Margo smirked but Eliot chose not to engage.

“We were talking about the decorations,” Quentin said.

“I noticed the amount of reindeer and had to ask about it,” Eliot replied.

“You showed him the moose didn’t you?” Alice asked with a look that Eliot couldn’t quite describe.

“The moose is one of our main attractions,” Quentin said running a hand through his hair. 

Eliot once again felt like he was missing part of the story but he tried not to let it bother him. 

“Yeah I had noticed the reindeer trend as well but assumed it was you know just a Quentin thing,” Margo said.

“It is — Reindeers are mostly Quentin’s fault, Alice likes collecting different Santa Clauses, Julia goes for snowflakes, stars, and random animals and I like snowmen,” James explained. 

“Random animals?” Margo asked looking at Julia.

“I love different animals in holiday outfits, and I have a great collection of animals from pottery barn,” Julia explained.

“They are very cute,” Quentin admitted.

Margo smiled at him and then looked at Quentin and Eliot had no idea what she was going to say. But knew it was probably going to be evil.  
  


“So I heard you have a date Coldwater,” Margo said putting all her attention on Quentin who almost choked on his drink and then proceeded to blush.

“Yeah with — uh, Poppy from Whitespire,” Quentin said. 

He can’t believe he has to hear about this stupid date now, he’s going to kill Margo for this later. Poppy is just so _ugh._ Eliot can’t even explain it but she just bothered him in every single way. But it’s not like he cares — because he doesn’t. Quentin can date whoever the fuck he wanted to date. Even if Eliot had thought he’d have better taste than the likes of Poppy Kline. 

“Well I for one am happy for you Q,” Julia said.

“Not this again,” Quentin muttered but didn’t move out of the way when Julia put an arm around him.

“What, you’ve had a dry spell — it’s normal,” Julia mentioned. 

“This is your first date since the break up with Penny right?” James asked and Quentin looked slightly murderous. 

Who exactly was Penny? Was she Quentin’s ex-girlfriend? Why did Quentin seem to like names that started with P. And who names their kid Penny? Or was it short for Penelope?

“Yes, it is but I’ve been busy,” Quentin argued.

“Darling, there's a word for that,” James said but Quentin just glared.

“I just didn’t have time to date, that is all. Penny and I broke up and I just didn’t feel like wasting my time on dates when I could be working — I like working,” Quentin said and just like that the matter was dropped. 

“Did we finally decide whose turn it was to decide how to decorate the tree?” Alice asked breaking the tension that had fallen over the room.

“Yeah I cede my year to Quentin and his decisions, sorry Jules but I might like his ideas a little bit more,” James said practically hiding behind Margo, which made for a hilarious image considering James was only slightly shorter than Eliot. Which meant he was much taller than Margo herself. 

“Fine,” Julia relented as Quentin punched the air. 

“Success!” 

That was most definitely not cute… in the slightest bit.

-*-*-

Once they had decided who was going to decorate, it’s like things moved into action. Eliot himself didn’t have a lot of holiday traditions, he’d listen to Christmas music and on Christmas Eve he would usually be working or spending it with Margo. So he liked seeing the group’s traditions. And he was oddly touched about being included in them. 

Quentin had chosen red, green, silver and white for his theme. That meant they could use any ornaments that were those colors but nothing else. And Christmas music had to be playing in the background. Apparently that was paramount in setting the atmosphere, Eliot just found it adorable.

“So how do we do this? I assume you have an order to these things?” Eliot asked with a smile.  
“Oh does he ever,” James muttered.

“Q is very uptight about the Christmas tree,” Julia said.

“First lights, then ornaments, then tinsel, and the star goes at the end,” Quentin explained.

“It’s fun Quentin, do you remember fun?” Julia said and Quentin ignored her.  
“It’s more aesthetic this way and just as fun I bet,” Eliot said 

“Exactly,” Quentin said.

“Oh no, there’s two of them,” Alice joked.

“Eliot is very committed to _the aesthetic_ ,” Margo said. 

“I do things for two reasons, spite and the aesthetics,” Eliot joked, and honestly it wasn’t that far from the truth. 

So they started decorating the tree. It was hilarious to watch because Margo mostly just gave orders from her place on the couch, James would listen to her instructions and follow them half of the time. Which made his best friend laugh and that was the moment Eliot decided that James was good for her. He made her laugh and accepted her for who she was. Alice put like four ornaments on the tree and then went to get more eggnog and sit by Margo. Later to be joined by her girlfriend.

So it was just Eliot and Quentin decorating the tree. Quentin was in his element. That much Eliot could tell. Then he’d started badly humming Christmas music while they decorated and Eliot couldn’t help but laugh.

“What?” Quentin asked.

“Nothing it’s just — you’re good at this.”

“Well it is my job,” Quentin remarked as he placed a silver reindeer on the tree. 

“I’m being serious,” Eliot said and Quentin smiled at him.

“Contrary to what you might think — I do know my limits. Normally I get a chair but I don’t want to tempt death,” Quentin ranted.

“Do you want me to get the ornaments at the very top?” Eliot asked finishing his thought and Quentin blushed a bit.

“Yes please,” Quentin said as “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” started playing.

“I love this song,” Eliot muttered as he grabbed an ornament of a cat dressed like Santa and placed it near the top. 

“Why?” Quentin asked amused

“It’s iconic!” Eliot exclaimed.

“Not the word that I’d use to describe,” Quentin said.

“Come on, it’s brilliant. Your brain is full of spiders. You've got garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch!” Eliot sang and Quentin laughed again, “You can’t say the lyrics aren’t great.”

“Most people go for Jingle Bells or even Rudolph you know?” 

“I am not like most people,” Eliot said proudly and there was something in Quentin’s eyes that Eliot couldn’t quite figure out. 

“Yeah, I’m starting to realize that,” Quentin said.

“So, would you choose between me and a seasick crocodile?” Eliot wondered.

“Jury is still out,” Quentin remarked.

“I guess I’ll have to win you over to my side,” Eliot mentioned, a part of him was glad that the door wasn’t actually closed. That Quentin didn’t seem to hate him. 

“I guess you will,” Quentin said. 

They continued in relative silence hanging ornaments and humming along to Christmas music as the rest of the group talked among themselves. It was nice. It was actually really nice. Eliot had never actually been a part of a group like this. It had always been him and Margo against the world. He had fretted about it before coming here tonight. He hadn’t known if it was going to be awkward or not. He brought brownies because he didn’t like showing up to places empty-handed but this whole night could have easily gone south. But outside a few stares from Julia and a few strange smiles from Alice, he’d actually felt like he was part of the group?  
  


He found it comforting. It was strange. Definitely strange. And then the Nutcracker suite started playing on their speakers. 

“Turn that up,” Quentin called out and Alice did as he asked.

“You’re a fan of the Nutcracker?” Eliot asked.

“Quentin adores the Nutcracker,” Alice pointed out.

“I — yes,” Quentin admitted, “I love the Nutcracker.”

“It was my favorite as a kid,” Eliot said, “Jane took me once when we came to New York and it was absolutely magical.”

“Yes, it is,” Quentin agreed with a smile.

Maybe they weren’t so different after all. 

“Hey I think we’re just about done,” Quentin said taking a step back and observing the tree. 

“I think this year might be one of the best we’ve done,” James commented coming up to see it. 

“It’s truly beautiful,” Alice agreed.

“All that is missing is the star on top,” Julia pointed out. Quentin grabbed the star and handed it to Margo.

“Do you want to do the honors?” Quentin asked with a soft smile on his face and Eliot saw how his best friend’s face lit up as though she were a little girl. 

“Are you sure?” Margo asked uncertainly. 

“Definitely,” Quentin nodded as James brought out the ladder and placed it next to the tree. 

“Okay then,” Margo said as she got up on the ladder and put it on the top of the tree, then came back down with the help of her boyfriend.

Eliot took a step back and marveled at the tree, it truly was a gorgeous tree. Julia was taking photos of it, Alice was staring in awe, Margo looked happy in James' arms and Quentin was actually — looking at him. Eliot gave him a smile and got a small smile in return.

“I think this is going to be a good Christmas,” Margo said coming over to hug Eliot. Eliot smiled down at her.

“Yeah, Bambi, I think it will be,” Eliot replied then kissed her on the forehead.

Maybe it was finally going to be a Christmas to remember.

* * *

Quentin was getting everything ready for his upcoming meeting. The Senior Arts Center was a newer acquisition, they’d gotten the account last year which meant they’d only done a few parties for them so it had to be perfect. He hadn’t seen Eliot this morning and so far that was for the best. 

He still had no clue if inviting him over two nights ago had been the right decision. He’d seemed to fit in well with his friends, which Quentin was not going to think about. Especially considering out of his two relationships only Penny got along with them. And it had been on a boyfriend’s friends' basis. 

He and James had not liked each other, he’d gotten along pretty well with Kady and Alice, and Julia hadn’t seemed to have much of an opinion, positive or negative. But Eliot seemed to get along with all of them. He’d even impressed Julia, which was not an easy feat in the slightest bit.

So Quentin was back to the never-ending confusion. 

Yippee.

Speak of the devil — Eliot was just coming from the elevator talking to Quentin’s client. Oh great.

“I feel like I have great legs but don’t know if I could pull off a grass skirt you know?” Eliot asked.

“Oh Quentin, where did you find this lovely fellow,” Bigby asked delighted. 

“Hey Bigby, I see you’ve met Eliot, he’s helping us out during the holiday season,” Quentin explained greeting Bigby.

“Bigby was just telling me about her latest trip through the Hawaiian islands,” Eliot said.

“And I want nothing more than to go back there,” Bigby replied.

“Sounds wonderful, are you ready to discuss the Senior Arts Center?” 

“I’m ready.” 

“Would you mind terribly if I sat in?” Eliot wondered and Quentin was taken aback for a moment as Bigby said she didn’t mind. 

“Sure, come on in,” Quentin said as they went inside the conference room. 

The meeting was not going as Quentin had planned. His classy idea had been shot down. He understood what Bigby was saying he just wished he’d known that before. He would have planned accordingly. Bigby was going off about feeling young again and Quentin wanted to give her that but didn’t know how. No, Eliot’s suggestion of a pool party did not work. His nostalgic idea was also shut down. 

“I don’t want to remind them of their glory days — I want them to feel like these right now are their glory days,” Bigby explained. 

Then Eliot had gone off on a tangent and Quentin’s already anxious stomach was going in circles. 

“Anything is possible and nothing can top this moment right here — right now,” Eliot said. 

“Yes! That is it! I want to feel young alive and full of hope and I want to share that feeling,” Bigby said and Quentin tried to do his best to smile. How the fuck does that translate into a theme?

“We’ll just design something that embodies all of those things,” Quentin said, and then Eliot clapped his hands as if he got an idea. Oh fuck here we go.

“It just hit me!” Eliot exclaimed, “Bigby darling you’re a genius. You had the idea all along I don’t know why I didn’t realize it before.”

“I did?” Bigby looked up at Eliot in confusion.

“You did. Mele Kalikimaka,” Eliot replied, moving his hips as if he was hula dancing. 

“Hawaiian Christmas?” Quentin asked, that was Eliot’s big idea? 

“Why not?” 

“It’s not exactly traditional. The Senior Arts Center values tradition,” Quentin told Bigby. 

“You don’t get more traditional than Bing Crosby,” Eliot pointed out and Quentin felt like he was about to explode. Eliot was completely taking over his pitch. Why is it every time he felt there was more to Eliot he pulled something like this?

“Just picture it with me will you — a laid back, tropical theme. Everyone will be in Hawaiian outfits with mai tai cocktails. Maybe even a projector in the back showing the islands so everyone feels like they are there,” Eliot explained. 

“Where is the Christmas in that exactly?” Quentin asked.

“We could get a surfing Santa?” Eliot suggested and Quentin quirked an eyebrow.

“I love it! Imagine everyone with flower leis! We can hand them out as they arrive,” Bigby said.

“Hula dancers and a ukulele band,” Quentin relented, if they were going to do this, it would be done right.

“It’s a work of genius!” Bigby exclaimed excitedly. 

“It was your idea, we just followed through,” Eliot remarked as they led her out to the elevators and said their goodbyes. Eliot smirked at Quentin and Quentin felt like he was going to explode at any moment.

“What the fuck was that? You hijacked my pitch!” Quentin exclaimed. 

“Oh please, you were drowning in there. I was helping you out,” Eliot retorted.

“You can’t make a pitch without thinking of all the factors. Especially when it comes to cost and a timeline,” Quentin explained.

“Someone sounds pissy they liked my idea better than yours.” 

“I’m pissed off that you chose a theme that’s hard to elevate,” Quentin replied as Eliot made a face at him. He made his job harder and then made faces at him? Fuck him, “Look she might think she wants this but she’s going to change her mind when it looks like a frat party rather than a classy event.” 

“Classy? What you were pitching was practically a funeral,” Eliot said.

“They’re seniors Eliot, that means conservative.”

“They’re artists Quentin, they want to cut loose.” 

“Both of you enough! My office — now,” Jane said with her hands crossed as she lead the way. Quentin and Eliot followed like they were reprimanded students on the way to the principal’s office. It felt like that too. They both sat in the chairs on the other side of Jane’s desk as Jane stared at them.

“You are both brilliant you know this — but you need to learn to work together,” Jane said. 

“Jane —” Quentin started.

“I am not finished. This company works when we’re all at our best. And we can’t be at our best if you two decide to fight like cats and dogs over everything. Now, what do you have to say to each other?” 

“It was my fault — it was my account. I shouldn’t have let you come into the meeting,” Quentin muttered.

“I might have overstepped a little bit. I just wanted to help throw a party,” Eliot said. 

“You throw a baseball you plan a party,” Quentin told him.

“Yeah okay whatever you say,” Eliot remarked, slightly blowing him off. So Quentin turned to him.

“Look it wasn’t the idea itself or even that it was yours. I know you were excited I could see that, but you made a big error. You should have just asked me to go outside and we would have talked about it. You should never talk in front of the client.”

“That was my bad and I am sorry about it. It won’t happen again,” Eliot said and his tone was so earnest that Quentin actually believed him.

“That’s good with me,” Quentin said and turned to Jane, “Are we good?”

“Ellie darling, can you excuse us for a moment?” Jane asked and Eliot turned to look at Quentin then at his godmother before walking out of the office. 

Then there were two. Quentin used to pride himself in how well he knew Jane but recently he had been extremely off the mark. So right now he was actually worried. 

“Eliot is my family, it’s important to me that you learn to work with him.”

“Yeah I know you said that. I’ll try harder. And yeah, it will be good to have an extra hand for the season,” Quentin said. 

“Not just the season,” Jane said, and Quentin sees nothing but honesty in her face and his stomach just dropped, “he’s going to take over the mantle for me.”  
  


_Of fucking course._

“I — understand,” Quentin muttered looking at his hands. 

“You’re hurt,” Jane pointed out, and a part of him just went _no fucking shit Jane._

“I’m — I just thought — it’s not important right now,” Quentin said looking at Jane and trying really hard to keep the emotions at bay. He expected this — ever since Eliot showed up Quentin had known it was coming. So why did it hurt so much?

“There will always be a place for you here, but I need to take care of my family,” Jane explained, “I hope you understand that.”

“Of course I do,” Quentin said, because that was his role wasn’t it? To always be the understanding one. 

“I have a few calls I need to make so I’m going to — go make them,” Quentin said as he hurried out of her office. 

* * *

Quentin had to get out of there, he _needed_ to get out of there. He just grabbed his phone and told the receptionist that he was taking his lunch break. He was aware that she was staring at him like he grew another head, in all his time here he rarely went out to lunch. Normally he just ate at his office and that was it. 

But he couldn’t eat at his office because Eliot was there. And he honestly didn’t want to see anyone right now. How had things gone south so badly? He knew this would happen. He knew the moment that Jane introduced her stupid attractive godson that he’d get the company. But there was still a dumb hopeful part of Quentin that thought. Hey maybe not? Maybe Jane appreciates everything you have done? 

But Eliot was the one taking over the reins, not Quentin. Eliot who just walked in this season and then suddenly it’s his. All of Quentin’s dreams and hard work had been for nothing. Okay he knew that’s not the case but that’s what it felt like. And the worst part? The worst part was that Eliot was good at it. So Quentin got it. He got why Jane was giving him the company. But it didn’t make it hurt any less.

He was out of the office when he managed to get his phone out of his pocket. He needed to talk to someone. James would be nice and understanding, Julia would scream about Jane, Alice… He needed to talk to Alice. 

“Hey Vix,” Quentin said as she picked up the phone.

“Q? Is everything okay? It’s work hours — you never call during work hours,” Alice answered and Quentin let out a sad laugh. It was true. In all the time he’d worked for Jane he’d never called his friends during his work hours. Not even once. 

“It’s official,” Quentin replied.

“What’s official? Q I can’t help you if you don’t actually use your words.” 

“Eliot is taking over for Jane — she just told me. Apparently she needs to take care of her family,” Quentin said, voice quivering. 

“Oh Q.”

“I gave up so much Vix — and for what?” Quentin cried, “I dedicated my life to it — I put off so many things. How many things have I missed over the years Vix?” 

“I know Q,” Alice said.

“I could be with Penny traveling. He asked you know,” Quentin mentioned, he hadn’t told anyone that part. How Penny had asked Quentin to just leave it all behind and go with him. Quentin had said no — his job was too important. His stupid job which left him too tired to do anything else. 

“Do you want to be with Penny though? If you wanted to be with Penny you wouldn’t have let him go so easily,” Alice reminded him.

“No — I don’t want to be with Penny,” Quentin admitted, he’d loved Penny but wasn’t in love with him, “But the option was there.” 

“I get it,” Alice said, and Quentin knew that she did.

“And now I have to walk in there and act like everything is okay when it’s not. I feel like everything is falling apart and I don’t know what to do,” Quentin admitted.

“Can’t you take the afternoon off?” Alice asked, although Quentin figured she knew the answer. 

“I can’t — we’ve got to plan the Senior Arts Center party, and I have to start getting vendors and things. It’s not fair for me to just walk out today — I’m sure she’d understand but I can’t do that. As mad and as hurt as I am I can’t leave all the hard work to Eliot. It just seems mean.”

“You know you’re allowed to be selfish right?” 

“I know but — I just can’t do that to him. This is the first one he’s helping out from the start. And one of my jobs this season is to show him the ropes after all.” 

“Q,” Alice said worriedly.

“I’m fine — I just. I needed to rant okay and now I want to talk about something else?” 

“If that’s what you want.”

“It is — how did your big meeting go?” Quentin asked, Alice was an art curator which meant she came in contact with all kinds of people. From the charismatic to the eccentric. 

“It was both incredible and terrifying — and I might have bitched out a few people,” Alice said as she told Quentin all about her latest meeting. Quentin once again thanked his lucky stars that he had Alice Quinn in his life, it would not be the same without her. 

* * *

Eliot had made himself scarce while Quentin had been talking to Jane and then had come back to find Quentin gone. He’d asked Ashley and she’d said Quentin had gone out to lunch. Which was just bizarre considering in all his time here Quentin had never gone out to lunch, he normally ate at his desk while working. 

Was Quentin okay? What had happened during the meeting? Oh god he had overstepped more than he thought he had, hadn’t he? He needed to call Margo, she usually had a better viewpoint than he did. Especially about things like this. 

So he smiled at Ashley and said he’d be right back and then went to the office lobby. 

“I fucked up,” Eliot said in lieu of a greeting. 

“Hello to you too, what did you do now?” Margo asked.

  
Eliot set off to tell her everything that had happened the day from the meeting with the senior center to the meeting with Jane. And the fact that Quentin wasn’t at his office right now. 

“Do you know what they talked about in the meeting?” Margo asked.

“I just know that when I came back to our office space Quentin was gone and Jane’s door was closed.”

“Look El — I love you, you know that right?”

“Of course I do Bambi, you know I love you too,” Eliot answered.

“Well you have to stop being the kid on the playground tugging at the metaphorical pigtails,” Margo said. 

“What? I’m not?” 

“You are. You take a few steps forward and then a few back. It’s fine to tease Quentin, we both know he’s an easy target. He’s so open and endearing and all that. But you have to show him you respect him.”

“I do respect him! He’s basically the only straight guy I respect.” 

“Then show him you do, because right now he sees the guy angling for his job who keeps embarrassing him in front of people. Wait did you say straight?” 

“Yeah Quentin is straight,” Eliot said.

“We’re talking about the same Quentin, right? Floppy hair normally in a manbun? Nerdy, flails around a lot? Very nitpicky about Christmas decorations?” 

“Yes Margo, the Quentin I work with,” Eliot said annoyed as Margo started laughing.

“El, darling. You really need your gaydar tuned holy shit.”

“What?” 

“El, that boy could not be more bisexual, Quentin is most definitely not straight. I mean you’ve seen how he sits in a chair, how is this even a question?” 

“He’s bi?” Eliot asked and suddenly his hopeful heart started beating faster. _Holy shit Quentin was bisexual._

“Of course he is. Think about it El,” Margo said.

“Oh,” Eliot answered, and yes a lot of things made more sense now. Maybe Eliot should stop assuming things but that wasn’t going to stop any time soon — he knew himself too well. 

“You know what you have to do when Quentin comes back to the office right?” Margo asked.

“Pretend nothing ever happened?” 

“El.”

“I have to apologize I know — I just, I’m not sure he’d believe me,” Eliot admitted, he’s not sure Eliot would believe himself in Quentin’s place.

“Well it’s a good thing he’s a moderately better person than you and me,” Margo reminded him.

“That’s true — what can I do?” 

“Make a gesture,” Margo said and with that she said goodbye and hung up the phone. 

A gesture — what would be a gesture that Quentin would appreciate and wouldn’t seem insincere? Eliot racked his brains trying to think of ideas when it finally came to him. He knew what he was going to do. It would chip at his image and the aesthetic he showed to the world but Quentin was worth it. He didn’t want Quentin to hate him. So maybe it was time to show him a bit more under the facade of Eliot Waugh. 

He just hoped Quentin didn’t turn him down.

* * *

Eliot got back to the office about 10 minutes before Quentin did. Then they worked in silence for about an hour until Eliot couldn’t handle it anymore. He walked over to Quentin’s desk and knocked on it as if he was knocking on a door. Quentin looked up confused.

  
“I want to take you somewhere,” Eliot said.

“Eliot, I have a lot of work to do,” Quentin answered and went back to looking at his papers.

“I’m trying here Quentin. We have to work together, let me take you somewhere,” Eliot suggested.

“I don’t — I don’t know,” Quentin said nervously.

“Don’t make me beg, please. I played a pauper one time in a Christmas Carol and I was absolutely horrid at it,” Eliot said and then he mimicked a beggar, “Please sir, alms for the poor.”

“Did you play the old woman?” Quentin remarked and Eliot threw him a false offended look and then smirked.

“Come on, going once — going twice.”

“Okay fine I’ll go but if you kill me Alice will find you,” Quentin warned.

“I’ll keep that under advisement,” Eliot said with a laugh as Quentin grabbed his jacket and they made their way to the street. They walked for a block or two when they stopped at a hot dog stand. Eliot knew that Quentin was staring at him in surprise but he just smiled.  
  
“What is this?” Quentin asked.

“It’s a hot dog stand,” Eliot said cheekily, knowing that wasn’t what Quentin was asking. 

“Eliot,” Quentin tried again.

“It’s a hot dog truce — we have to work together. We might as well get along,” Eliot shrugged and ordered two hot dogs.

“When you said you were taking me somewhere this was not what I expected,” Quentin admitted.

“Don’t tell anyone — it would ruin my reputation,” Eliot joked. 

“Your secret is safe with me Waugh,” Quentin said softly.

“This particular hot dog stand was one of the first things I found when I arrived in New York for college, it was within my budget so I didn’t starve. I wasn’t exactly the fabulous version of myself that you see right now. A lot of my rough edges were still visible. These hot dogs made me feel a little bit better,” Eliot said, he knew that if he wanted Quentin to like him he needed to give a little bit of himself. Then they got their hot dogs and he handed one to Quentin who smiled at him.

“Thank you,” Quentin muttered.

“It’s my pleasure, Mr. Coldwater,” Eliot said and then directed them towards a bench. 

They sat down and Eliot looked at him, “I am sorry about this morning and about the last few days. I know I haven’t always put my best foot forward.”

“To be honest? I don’t think I have either,” Quentin admitted.

“What do you say we start again, I’m Eliot my friends call me El,” Eliot said grabbing his hot dog with one hand and stretching out the other for Q to shake.

“Nice to meet you El. I’m Quentin Coldwater — my friends call me Q,” Quentin said, shaking his hand.

“It’s a pleasure,” Eliot said smiling. 

They ate in comfortable silence and watched as people went by, a couple passed by and Eliot noticed a wistful look on Quentin’s face.

“Are you okay?” Eliot wondered.

“I’m happy with where I am but I do sometimes wish I had someone to share it with,” Quentin told him.

“So why are you single?” Eliot asked.

“I don’t know — what do you think? You do seem to have an opinion on everything,” Quentin teased. 

“I think you carry a lot of stress and maybe have a hard time having fun,” Eliot said as Quentin looked away. 

“Yeah well, I wouldn’t quit your day job. I know why I am single,” Quentin said.

“Please enlighten me,” Eliot said before taking a bite of his hot dog. 

“As much as I hate to admit it — my friends are right. I am a bit of a workaholic, it’s the reason Penny broke things off.”

“Well it’s her loss,” Eliot said trying to be comforting and then Quentin just laughed. Which just confused the hell out of Eliot, “Did I miss something?”

“Sorry, it’s just — Penny’s real name is William.” 

And wow that’s another thing that made sense. 

“Well it’s his loss then,” Eliot told him with a soft smile.

“Both you and Margo assumed that Penny was a woman and if we were still talking I would totally use that to tease him.”

“That bad?”

“Yes and no. I don’t think we’ll ever be Julia and James who managed to remain close after everything. Penny and I were friends first but it didn’t exactly end in the most amicable fashion. We both said some things and even though he was right — it doesn’t make hearing it easier.”

“What did he say?”

“That I’m too much of a workaholic to ever make a relationship work. He said I use work as a barrier to keep people from getting too close,” Quentin said looking down before locking eyes with Eliot. Eliot could see the hurt in his eyes. 

“Did you love him?” Eliot wondered, he didn’t know why he wanted to know, just that he did.

“I wanted to — I tried to. But I still ended up putting work before our relationship countless times.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being dedicated to your work,” Eliot mentioned and Quentin answered with a soft smile. 

“I know, it’s just — maybe I’m a dumb romantic but I want someone who will make me want to skip parties or get out early to see them. Or rather that I’ll want to actually spend time with them instead of spending time at work.”

“I get that,” Eliot said softly, and he did. He really did, “You said there were two reasons?”

“Oh yeah,” Quentin answered, “I compare everyone to my father.”

“A bit of a daddy kink?” Eliot joked and Quentin laughed.

“No, not like that you perv,” Quentin said but Eliot just smirked, “my father had this incredible imagination.”

“Had?” 

“He passed away a few years back,” Quentin mentioned and Eliot smiled sadly.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I had a few dark months afterwards but such is life when you have clinical depression,” Quentin said in a self-deprecating way. Eliot put a hand over his and squeezed, earning a small smile from the man in question. 

“Did your dad know how to have fun?” Eliot asked trying to lighten the atmosphere.

“Definitely, while at the same time he was very responsible. When I was about seven, my mother left him for another woman and she basically washed her hands of me. Guess she didn’t want a kid that was in and out of hospitals. Then he got laid off. So he took two part-time jobs to help support me and the hospital stays,” Quentin said and Eliot’s heart broke when Quentin spoke of his mother. He kept his hand where it was because he wanted to comfort Quentin.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Eliot said. 

“I want to. My dad was too proud to ask for help — so I did,” Quentin said with a small proud smile. 

“What happened?” 

“Fogg’s Toys Christmas Party. I asked Santa for a job for my dad and Henry Fogg hired him a week later,” Quentin said with a big smile, “it was my Christmas miracle.”

“That’s why the party means so much to you,” Eliot figured, putting all the pieces together. 

“It changed not only my family’s life but mine. I saw the effect a party could have and I knew I wanted to do that,” Quentin said.

“That’s impressive Q,” Eliot commented and just like that the respect he already felt for Quentin multiplied tenfold. 

“What about you?” Quentin wondered.

Eliot knew he could bluff his way out of this one. After all, he’d done it countless times before. Normally when people asked about his past he’d given them the fake answers, the entirely too practiced answers. The only one that had gotten the real one was Margo. And he knew that just because Quentin had opened up didn’t mean he had to. The thing is? He wanted to. Which was new. 

“If you want my story you’re going to have to walk with me — it’s too cold to just keep sitting here,” Eliot says helping Quentin get up from the bench. As they got up he turned to Quentin and said, “I warn you it’s not the happiest of stories.”

“You don’t have to,” Quentin said.

“I feel I need to — more than that, I want to,” Eliot said before throwing the hot dog wrapper in a nearby trash can. Quentin finished his food and did the same. 

“So despite what my personality says I did not grow up having parties on yachts or anything of the sort. I am actually from Indiana,” Eliot said basically whispering the state, “I grew up on a farm. I had or have — I don’t actually know — two older brothers and an extremely homophobic father.”  
  


Eliot felt a comforting hand on his back and saw Quentin was smiling at him in an understanding way.

“My dad he uh — beat me up. It was very clear from an early age that I was different from the rest. I loved musicals rather than tractors — although I do know how to drive one. My mother was probably a good person at one point in her life. But by the time I was around 10 she was just tired. She died a few years later from drunk driving. Ironically she was not the one that was drunk that time.”

“I’m sorry,” Quentin muttered.

“It is what it is. My childhood was terrible, the only bright spots were when my mom’s best friend Jane visited. One time my mom took me and my younger brother to New York. We spent all of December here. I think it’s the closest she got to leaving him. I was 13 when she died and I left home the moment I turned 18. I ended up in New York and Jane opened her doors to me,” Eliot explained, he is never going to be able to repay Jane everything she did but he is still going to try.

“She does like the lost souls doesn’t she?” Quentin mentioned.

“That she does,” Eliot smiled, “she helped pay for my college and I got a part-time job. I met Margo while I was at NYU and we became inseparable. I created an entirely new persona. The refined version of Eliot Waugh you see before you. Acting was the easy route. All you have to do is play the part and hope that the audience accepts you.”

“Yeah — that tracks,” Quentin nodded.

“Yes but there comes a moment when you realize that a part isn’t you. So I said forget it and walked out of my fourth callback for a soap opera and came here,” Eliot explained and Quentin smiled, “The problem is that sometimes I catch myself still doing it, even without meaning to. Like the other night at the party, I shouldn’t have embarrassed you. Sometimes I just enter into a social situation and I become the Entertainer. It’s basically autopilot — or worse, an appliance that is always on. I’m basically a clock radio.”

  
Quentin laughed at his analogy and Eliot smiled back, happy to hear his laugh.

“You are not a clock radio,” Quentin said rolling his eyes. 

“I made you laugh,” Eliot pointed out.

“You’re not on now are you?” Quentin wondered with a laugh.

“No,” Eliot said surprised, “my charms don’t seem to work on you.”

“No one is as surprised as me to hear me say this but —”

“What is it?” Eliot asked curiously.

“I don’t think I’m a big fan of the Entertainer,” Quentin admitted and there was something in his eye that Eliot couldn’t decipher. He truly looked surprised at this revelation, “I like the guy right here.”

And what was Eliot supposed to say to that? No one outside of Margo had ever liked Eliot more than the image he put up. They liked the suave guy who could flirt with anyone, not the kid who basically ran out of Indiana. 

“I don’t — actually know what to say to that,” Eliot said, for once he truly had no words, “Thank you?”

“You’re uh welcome,” Quentin said as he put a hand nervously through his hair, “We should get back to work.”

“Right yes — that’s what we’re here for after all.” 

* * *

That night was the date with Poppy which Quentin regretted the moment Poppy started talking. The view was spectacular and you could see the Empire State Building from the window. The restaurant was also very lovely and the service was impeccable. But the conversation? Not so much.

It seemed that he and Poppy didn’t really have much in common. She was gorgeous but that was pretty much it. Quentin had started feeling slightly uncomfortable as the night went on. But he needed to make an actual attempt at the date. At least so he could honestly say he tried.

“It’s very peaceful up here,” Quentin commented.

“I’m guessing you had a long day?” Poppy asked.

“It was definitely — something,” Quentin said, it had started out badly then got worse. Then Eliot had taken him out for hot dogs and it had been nice. It had been really nice. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

“Office politics,” Quentin said. 

“Problems with your associate?” Poppy asked.

“It’s a complicated situation — it’s hard to teach someone the ropes while we’re dealing with our busiest season,” Quentin explained.

“Plus it’s probably a hassle working with someone like him right?” Poppy retorted and something in Quentin’s stomach lurched.

“Someone like him?” Quentin asked, feeling suddenly defensive. Especially after what Eliot had shared earlier in the day. 

“Come on Quentin you know what I mean. He’s very clearly not straight. I mean the guy didn’t even give me a second look which is how you know he’s clearly not into women,” Poppy said smiling at him with her arms on the table and her fingers touching in a steeple formation. 

“And that matters why?” Quentin wondered crossing his arms. 

“I don’t know… Isn’t it tiring to have to deal with that?” 

“Deal with what?” Quentin asked, he was curious to see if she would say the words. 

“Maybe I’m out of line here but I just don’t know how you do it.”

“For the record? You are out of line. Eliot is extremely talented at what he does and his sexuality has nothing to do with anything. He’s professional, hard-working and a good co-worker, and if you have a problem with queer men then maybe we should end this right now,” Quentin said putting the napkin on the table and standing up. 

“Don’t be like that Quentin — at least stay to watch the lights,” Poppy said and Quentin sat back down. 

“Where are these lights anyway?” 

“Well as you probably know — the Empire State Building gets lit up for Christmas well this year a lot more companies also signed up,” Poppy explained. 

“I read something about that. They want to turn on the lights 12 days before Christmas,” Quentin added, “wait is that tonight?”

“It’s tonight — any moment now,” Poppy said.

And sure enough, the lights came on. It was a glorious spectacle. The lights looked gorgeous and the city looked like a dream. Quentin just wished he was sharing the view with someone special. This date had been a mistake from the start. He never should have accepted it. He asked for the check and Poppy offered to pay. 

Quentin let her after not much fuss. She said she was paying with the company card after all. He paid for the waiter’s tip while she paid for the meal. Then they went their separate ways. Honestly, Quentin couldn’t get out of there fast enough. He just hoped the girls had ice cream at the apartment. 

* * *

Quentin walked into his apartment to find Julia and Alice waiting for him on the couch.

“Sometimes I think you spend more time here than at your apartment,” Quentin pointed out, although he was happy they were there.

“You had your first date in eons, we obviously weren’t going to miss this,” Alice said.

“And your apartment is bigger than ours,” Julia commented.

“What if the date had gone really well and I’d brought her back to my apartment?” Quentin wondered.

“You’re an old romantic Q — you almost never have sex on the first date,” Julia reminded him, and okay she was right about that. Unless it was a one night stand he rarely had sex after a first date. It had to be a really good first date. 

“Plus you would have texted and I haven’t received anything from you tonight,” Alice said.

“I’m going to guess that the date did not go well?” Julia said as Quentin threw himself on the couch between the two girls.

“Do you need ice cream?” Alice asked.

“I do.” 

“Cookie Dough or Mint Chocolate chip?” Alice asked as she got up from the couch. It was their bad date system. Cookie Dough meant the date was bad but you weren’t personally broken up about it, Mint Chocolate Chip was a bit more big leagues.

“Cookie Dough please Vix,” Quentin said as he rested his head on Julia’s lap. A few minutes later Alice came back with a mug of ice cream with whipped cream on top. 

“You’re the greatest,” Quentin muttered as he sat up and Alice handed him the ice cream.

“I know,” Alice commented before sitting down on the other side of him. 

“So are you ready to talk now?” Julia wondered.

“It was not the best date in the world I’ll tell you that. The Christmas lights were gorgeous but I’m not exactly sure if they were worth sitting through that date for them,” Quentin muttered.

“That’s what happens when you agree to go on a date that you don’t want to go on,” Alice said knowingly but Quentin just ate his ice cream. 

“So was it boring? Was it bad? Did she commit some kind of heinous offense?” Julia joked and Quentin stopped eating, “I was mostly joking but did she?” 

“We were well into the middle of the date, we had just finished eating and were wondering if we would get dessert. I was trying to make an effort in enjoying the date considering I was already there but I wasn’t exactly feeling it,” Quentin mentioned.

“You weren’t feeling it because the only reason you said yes was to annoy Eliot,” Julia reminded him but he blew her off. Julia had this idea in her head that he’d only said yes to the date to make Eliot jealous — which was preposterous and so not true. 

“Like I said I was making an effort and we started talking about work which lead to talking about Eliot. How it’s not exactly easy to show someone how things are done while going through our busiest season,” Quentin explained.

“Which makes sense,” Alice said.

“Yes, but then she started being homophobic about Eliot and trying to pretend like she wasn’t being homophobic. She asked me if it was tiring to work with someone like him and said some bullshit about how she knew he wasn’t straight because he didn’t look twice at her? It was ridiculous.” 

“Geez – talk about conceited,” Julia said.

“Right? And this is the same woman who, in a business meeting, spent the entire time flirting and she wants to talk shit about Eliot who is actually a hard worker? It’s bullshit. It’s fucking bullshit. I can complain about Eliot because I work with him and because he’s my friend. But people like Poppy fucking Kline don’t get to be assholes about him. Especially in regards to what his sexuality is? Who the fuck cares?” Quentin exclaimed, and he was aware he was getting heated. He was aware that he was basically playing into Julia’s thoughts about his supposed crush on Eliot. Which didn’t exist. He just didn’t like it when his friends were attacked. That was it.

“So you left your date because she was mean about Eliot? Am I getting that correct?” Julia asked with a smirk. 

“I — I’m going to get more ice cream,” Quentin muttered and headed towards the kitchen.

He didn’t want to think about it. He really did not want to think about it. But Julia’s words were ringing in his ears. It meant nothing that he’d defended Eliot so vehemently right? He’d defend all his friends like that. It was just that he didn’t like people being homophobic. 

That was all — he did not have a crush on Eliot Waugh.

* * *

Eliot didn’t know why he was so early. All he knew was that he’d wanted to be early for once. Not that he wanted to impress Quentin or anything. He was just trying to be a responsible hard-worker that was all. If that meant he got to the ballroom earlier than so be it. He wished he’d brought coffees at least — it was really fucking early. 

He started thinking of ideas that they could use to make this party work. With a little help, this could be a spectacular party. It would prove to ~~Quentin~~ Jane that he could do this. Not that he needed to prove anything — because he didn’t. But it would be nice to get some kind of recognition. 

He and Quentin bonded yesterday. He still couldn’t believe he’d told him about Indiana, hell Margo hadn’t believed it when he told her. The truth was that the truth had basically flowed out of him. He wanted Quentin to know the real him. He was most definitely not going to think about what that meant. Sure Quentin wasn’t straight but he wasn’t interested in Eliot. He’d gone on a date with Poppy, of all people, yesterday.

He heard a door open and sure enough the man in question was right there. Looking extremely surprised to see him. 

“You’re here early,” Quentin remarked.

“I wanted to get a head start,” Eliot said, more like he couldn’t sleep but he wasn’t going to mention that, “How was your date?”

“What?” Quentin said and suddenly his eyes were wide as saucers.

“Your date? With Poppy?” Eliot reminded him and Quentin looked away. He suddenly was focusing on his clipboard a lot.

“Umm it was a date — it’s really not important,” Quentin mentioned. 

The look Quentin gave him was enough for him to shut up about it. Okay fine, he wouldn’t ask about the date. He just thought they were friends and friends ask about each other’s dating process. Even when it was with someone as annoying as Poppy Kline. But Quentin definitely saw something in her that Eliot himself didn’t see or else he wouldn’t have gone out with her right? Maybe she was a different person than he thought. Maybe it was a great date and Quentin was just shy about it.

“I don’t trust her,” Eliot remarked.

“What?” Quentin asked confused again, Eliot assumed he just hadn’t much sleep. Which he was definitely not going to think about.

“Poppy — I’d be careful around her. I don’t trust her.” 

Quentin actually smiled a small smile at him, which no did not make his insides tingle or anything of the sort. He did not like Quentin in that way. Not in the slightest. He’d finally managed to get Quentin to be his friend. He wasn’t going to mess that up. Especially not with _feelings._ Eliot hated feelings. They were very annoying. 

“I’ll take that under advisement — okay Hawaiian Christmas, go,” Quentin said settling more into party-planner mode. 

“I have been working on this since yesterday — prepare to be wowed Coldwater,” Eliot remarked.

“Take it away Waugh,” Quentin replied.

“So I was thinking maybe a buffet over here, it’s going to be bookended with inflatable palm trees. Then have the hula dancers over there,” Eliot explained with hand gestures and everything. 

“Sounds good except that inflatable palms run the risk of sagging or popping. I’d say we get Pop-Outs that are sturdy,” Quentin said and then went to the other side of the room, “I would also use gossamer drapes to create the illusion of a waterfall, tiki candle holders, lots of colored Christmas lights — oh and we’re canning the buffet. This is Hawaiian barbecue time.”

  
Quentin looked so excited and happy and he shot off ideas — he truly was in his element. Eliot was just happy he could share this feeling with him.

“I love it!” Eliot mentioned excitedly, “Do you see how much fun we’re having?”

“This is fun?” Quentin asked, amused.

“Of course it is. I’m the idea guy and you know all the details,” Eliot pointed out smugly.

“Idea guy?” 

“Admit it — Hawaiian Christmas was a perfect idea and you know it,” Eliot said.

“It’s truly a wonder that you haven’t won the Nobel prize,” Quentin remarked. 

“Well, you know what? I definitely should,” Eliot smirked, “but for real, I’m the architect and you are the interior designer.”

Quentin actually rolled his eyes at him, “Stop flattering yourself,” before walking off and leaving Eliot standing there. 

He was still right though.

* * *

The party was actually pretty damn successful. Quentin almost couldn’t believe it. If someone had told him Hawaiian Christmas would actually be an elevated party that he would enjoy hosting? He would have laughed in their face.

But it worked. It really worked.

Eliot’s crazy idea actually had legs and it was _impressive_. He tried very hard not to think about how this party was the first thing they really worked on as a team. And how well it turned out.

Maybe they made a good team after all. 

He walked into the kitchen to see Eliot playing a ukulele and singing Christmas music. It was an absolutely adorable picture. 

“Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh, over the hills we goooo, laughing all the waaay, oh in a one-horse open — hey there how are you” Eliot sang and then stopped when he saw Quentin laughing and turned around slightly embarrassed.

“That was impressive,” Quentin laughed as Eliot shrugged, “how is it going?”

“Good — everything is under control.”

“Anything you need from me?” 

“Here’s an idea — have fun,” Eliot retorted and Quentin playfully glared at him. 

“Mele Kalikimaka,” Jane said coming into the kitchen area, “great job team,”

Then she turned to her godson and said, “maybe you’ll even limbo later.”

“Limbo?” Quentin asked amused.

“Last minute addition,” Eliot answered and Bigby came in the door with a child and then greeted Jane.

“Quentin, Eliot — you’ve outdone yourselves,” Bigby complimented and they both thanked her.

“Who is your date, Bigby?” Jane asked.

“This is Andrew, my daughter and son-in-law went out of town so I had to do my part. You know how it is.”

They all greeted little Andrew and then Eliot got down to his level.

“Are you excited for Santa to come?” Eliot asked and Quentin looked at how excited the kid got. Eliot smiled at Andrew and said, “Did you know that before he packs his sleigh, he sends all his elves and reindeer to scout every rooftop?” 

“They do?” 

“Yeah — Do you want to go look for elf and reindeer prints with me?” Eliot offered as Andrew looked at Bigby and she nodded, “Let’s go have fun.”

Eliot walked away with Andrew and Quentin was left staring at him. Of course, he was good with kids. Was he ever going to stop being surprised at Eliot being good at something? His crush was never going to go away, was it?

Jury said no. 

He might as well just get used to it.

* * *

Quentin was putting things away when Eliot walked in carrying a tray.

“Where’s your friend?” Quentin asked with a smile.

“Asleep on a chair — I think it was the punch. You know it’s a mighty thing,” Eliot joked.

“Did you find any reindeer tracks?” Quentin smirked.

“No, but they’re probably covered in snow. We did think we saw some elf prints by the elevator,” Eliot answered with a smirk of his own.

“And how did you know they were elves?” Quentin asked.

“Elves have small legs and they hate stairs — it’s pretty obvious actually,” Eliot replied completely serious. 

“Right but of course.”

They both laughed a bit and Quentin turned to Eliot. 

“You did a really good job tonight. This was actually a lot more fun than anything I had planned,” Quentin admitted, it wasn’t always easy to admit he wasn’t right but he had to. He wanted to give Eliot his due — especially because he’d been hard on him.

“Couldn’t have done it without you,” Eliot said, “You saved me with your gossamer waterfalls and palm cut-outs so thank you.”

“Just doing my job,” Quentin said a bit embarrassed at the praise. 

“Eliot, El — I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit short with you since you arrived,” Quentin admitted.

“Aunt Jane didn’t give you a choice and you resent it, I understand,” Eliot says trying to reorganize the table in front of him.

“I did but it’s not because you’re her godson it’s because you’re good. I wish I could handle clients the way you handled Bigby and everything,” Quentin said grabbing Eliot’s hand so the man would look at him, it worked. 

“We were just making conversation,” Eliot said bashfully, “I’m a good listener — it’s the key to being a good actor.”

“You’re not acting now are you?” Quentin wondered, keeping his hand where it was.

“I don’t act with you — I don’t have to,” Eliot admitted. 

_And this is your moment Quentin. The atmosphere is perfect, you’re having a moment, your hands fit together perfectly. Just ask him. The worst that can happen is he’ll say no. And even if it happens, you’ll at least have your answer._

“El —,” Quentin started to say as Eliot looked at him with an expression Quentin couldn’t describe. 

But then the moment was broken. 

“There you are!” came the voice of a really attractive guy dressed impeccably. He came up to Eliot and smiled at him, Quentin pulled his hand back. Of course. 

“Quentin this is Idri — we were in theater together back in LA,” Eliot explained.

“We were in Les Mis together — Eliot was the Jean Valjean to my Javert,” Idri said, “how long ago was it?” 

“It was six years ago — I think.”

“Since he’s back in New York we figured we’d catch up,” Idri told him and all that Quentin could think about was how nice he was. Which was unfair because he kind of wanted to hate him at the moment.

“Yeah it sounds great,” Quentin said trying to keep his voice normal.

“You’re still up for drinks after the party?” Idri asked Eliot.

“You know it,” Eliot said then turned to Quentin, “I would have invited you I just figured you had plans.”

Right now his only plan was to wallow in front of a Christmas movie.

“Oh yeah I totally have plans don’t worry about me,” Quentin said hoping his voice sounded okay, “Don’t worry about me you — go have fun.”

“If you excuse me I have to go pay the fire-eater,” Quentin muttered and left the room. He kept himself busy until he knew they were gone. He was so stupid. How did he ever think that Eliot could be interested in him? He was probably just nice. Probably just excited to be friends with Quentin rather than frenemies. Or whatever they were before. 

Keep it together Coldwater.

He closed down everything and decided to walk home. After all, he needed to think about everything. He had the big meeting with Whitespire tomorrow, and after the terrible date with Poppy he had no idea how that was going to go. He had to focus on work, after all, it was what Quentin was good at.

He needed to focus on work rather than think about how he wished he was the one on a date with Eliot right now.


	3. Of Realizations & Misunderstandings

Quentin walked into Whitespire like a man on a mission. He was going to be professional. He was not going to let Poppy get the better of him. He would give her the updates and they’d talk about the party before Quentin went back to his office. 

It was all going to go according to plan.

But then again — his plans never accounted for the likes of Poppy Kline.

He had no idea why he’d gone out with her in the first place. 

~~He knew.~~

First Poppy had been late to the meeting, making Quentin wait for 15 minutes before gracing him with her presence. As if he didn’t have better things to do. Then she’d tried flirting with him while Quentin was telling her the ideas he had for the party. He’s almost certain that she had not listened to a single thing he said.

Why did Quentin have to deal with Poppy? How was it she was the best that Whitespire had? 

“Are you listening to me?” Quentin asked.

“Sure! It’s all emotional crap right?” Poppy answered.

“It is a Christmas Party,” Quentin replied biting down on the bitchier reply in his head.

“It’s going to be beautiful and all that nonsense, but I do have a few details from this side of the board,”

“What is it?” Quentin said dreading it. 

“I know I could have emailed these but I wanted to give you the chance at going out with me again,” Poppy said with a smug smile and Quentin just stared at her.

“Christmas Eve is just 10 days away, I have too much work to play hooky,” Quentin answered, trying to be diplomatic. 

“Are you sure I can’t tempt you?” Poppy said putting a hand on his leg and Quentin took a deep breath and grabbed her hand putting it back on the table.

“No thanks — one date was more than enough for me,” Quentin replied and Poppy actually scoffed, “Can we actually get back to work. Do you actually have notes or was that an excuse?” 

“Fine — your loss anyway,” Poppy said, “I just have a few notes that will make me look good to Mr. Kringle and the board.”

Quentin made a go-ahead motion and Poppy got up from her chair and started spouting off ridiculous ideas. 

“Caviar bar, VIP Room with waitresses that are dressed as Mrs. Claus or elves, I don’t know just make it sexy. You can totally hire them from the sports bar around the corner if you want. We’ve hired them before and they were decent...Oh and before I forget Whitespire has a small stake in Lamborghinis so if you can get a red one and place it in the middle of the room? That would be glorious. It could be like Santa’s sleigh, exclusive only for those with a platinum level wristband.” 

Quentin actually scoffed. Was this woman for real? She did realize this was the people’s party right? It wasn’t a trashy exclusive event. 

“Is something funny?” Poppy asked.

“No, it’s just… this is a wildly different approach than what the public expects from the party,” Quentin said. 

“Public? Who said anything about the public?” Poppy asked.

“It was all there in the files on the previous parties?” Quentin mentioned, and he wanted to be surprised that she hadn’t read them but of course, she hadn’t. 

“I do have a life you know,” Poppy muttered looking annoyed.

“Traditionally we do a toy drive and a hot turkey dinner for those in need,” Quentin explained to Poppy who looked incredulous. 

“We can have a section for that — like a kiddie pool at a country club,” Poppy said, “You are supposed to be the best right? If anyone can figure out a way to make this work so everyone is happy then supposedly that’s you, right?” 

“Fogg’s Toys Parties are about inclusion and community not VIP rooms and wrist bands,” Quentin retorted. 

“Sometimes to maintain the old you have to incorporate a little new,” Poppy said in a condescending tone as she took her seat again. Quentin honestly could not believe what he was hearing right now. Was this really his life? Her logic didn’t even make sense. 

“Look Quentin let’s be real here — like you I have a boss I have to answer to. I trust you to make a party that will make both of our bosses happy,” Poppy said as a man walked into the conference room. 

“Mr. Kringle this is Quentin Coldwater,” Poppy said introducing them, Quentin got up and shook his hand. 

“It’s a pleasure,” Quentin said.

“Call me Nick. I’m really looking forward to the Fogg’s Toys Christmas Party. Whitespire represents a very large family Mr. Coldwater this party allows us an opportunity to celebrate them and their families.”

“I’ll do my best sir,” Quentin said.

“I’m counting on it. I read that Times article and we’re expecting the best,” Nick said and then looked at Poppy, “You too Poppy.”

“I won’t let you down sir,” Poppy said. 

“Good day Mr. Coldwater,” Nick said before walking out of the conference room. 

“See what I told you. The boss man has the last word here,” Poppy remarked and Quentin nodded. 

“I’ll work on it,” Quentin said before making his way out of the conference room. He didn’t know how he was going to be able to pull this off. And after recent events he really needed a win — so he was currently terrified. And feeling slightly nauseous.

His only thought as he left the building was, why did Henry Fogg have to sell his store?

* * *

He’d gone back to the office to find Eliot was away doing something, Ashley hadn’t said what it was. Frankly, Quentin didn’t think she knew. Her job was mostly answering phones and getting the mail but she was a nice girl.

It was a good thing that Eliot wasn’t here yet. He hadn’t seen him since he almost asked him out at the party the night before. He still couldn’t believe he’d read things wrong. At least nothing had happened before he absolutely embarrassed himself. That would have made things even more complicated. 

Quentin got to work on the party trying to accommodate for both ideas. Even if it felt like a herculean task. How could he mix the most exclusive party of the year with the most inclusive? They were two completely different parties. It couldn’t be done. 

He’d been staring at the plans for 30 minutes when Eliot came back into their shared space. A few minutes later they were called into Jane’s office. A few minutes of idle chit chat and then Jane asked the question Quentin had been dreading. 

“How are things going with Whitespire?”

“Good — uh… they’re good. I met with Nicholas Kringle today and in the morning I have a concept approval meeting in the morning with Poppy Kline,” Quentin said, hoping he sounded better than he thought he did. 

“What is the concept this year?” Jane asked and Quentin truly smiled for the first time today. 

Now, this was something he truly wanted to talk about. Quentin was proud of this concept — it was one of his best ideas if he said so himself. 

“The Nutcracker Suite,” Quentin said showing them photos on his iPad.

“That’s incredible,” Eliot said.

“Ellie loved the Nutcracker when he was a kid — I took him once when he was 4. We were there in the front row seats and there’s cute 4-year-old Eliot trying to crawl up onto the stage,” Jane said, “You were always born to be an actor, weren't you?” 

“I just love that world what can I say?” Eliot interjected, “All the colors and the music. You can taste it… Which isn’t a bad idea.” 

“What isn’t a bad idea?” Quentin asked, he wasn’t sure why he was humoring Eliot’s crazy ideas but he was. It was just so endearing to see him go on and on about them.

“Nutcracker ice cream,” Eliot said looking proud of himself. Both Quentin and Jane laughed at the excited look on Eliot’s face.

“Okay, what’s happening with the Children’s Center?” Jane asked and Quentin realized he had nothing to say about it. 

“At the moment I have a team transforming their place into the Land of Sweets,” Eliot said excitedly, “I ordered a bunch of gingerbread houses for a decorating contest and have Santa Claus as a judge.”

“You talked to them without me?” Quentin asked softly, why didn’t anyone tell him?

“I — uh,” Eliot looked like he didn’t know what to say.

“I asked Eliot to take it off your hands,” Jane said as if it was no big deal. But Quentin was freaking out inside again. Was he being pushed out?

“The Land of Sweets, it sounds delightful darling. The children are going to love it,” Jane said.

“Yeah, and you remember my friend Margo? She got me a great deal on the gingerbread houses.”

Oh, Margo was involved too? That’s nice. Quentin wished someone would have told _him_ about it. 

“Sounds great,” Quentin said hoping he sounded okay. 

“Great work team! Keep me posted now run along,” Jane said as she dismissed them from her office. 

They walked back to their mini office and Eliot stood in front of Quentin. He looked apologetic.

“I’m just trying to help out with the children’s center, I’m not trying to step on any toes.” 

“I know — I’m just under a lot of pressure right now,” Quentin admitted. 

“You were lying about the meeting with Whitespire going well weren’t you?” Eliot asked and Quentin looked at him, who was it Eliot could read him so well sometimes?

“How did you know?” 

“I know bad acting… And you, my dear Q are a terrible actor,” Eliot remarked.

“Yeah...thanks,” Quentin muttered.

“Hey there’s nothing wrong with that — I think it’s kind of endearing,” Eliot said and all Quentin managed was a small smile. 

“Don’t worry though — your secret is safe with me,” Eliot said. 

“Whitespire doesn’t care about Fogg’s Toys. They want some kind of hybrid of Soho House and Cabaret that has VIP levels with wristbands,” Quentin complained.

“Well if you ever want to brainstorm you know that I am —,” 

“An idea guy?” Quentin asked finishing Eliot’s thought, “I’m good.” 

And then Eliot crossed his arms and a look came over his face. One that Quentin couldn’t really describe. Then he started to walk away before Quentin interrupted him.

“Why do you look like that El?”

Eliot sighed then turned around and looked at Quentin.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re disappointed in me,” Quentin pointed out, Eliot had never looked at him like this and Quentin wasn’t sure he liked it. 

“It’s just — for someone that is always preaching about the importance of a community you seem to want to be a party of one.” 

“El.”

“Just send me an e-vite or something if you change your mind,” Eliot retorted before walking away.

Quentin was left standing there at his desk. He sat there and put his head in his hands. He’d fucked up again. In his effort to try and make sense of his shitty day he’d hidden in himself. It was what he usually did. Except this time he’d accidentally pushed Eliot away. He hadn’t meant to hurt him. He just wasn’t completely certain what to do in these situations. 

When he was in one of his moods the group usually left him alone. They knew he’d go to them if he needed it. He hadn’t really dealt with anyone trying to push through his barriers before. Not even Penny had done that. He appreciated Eliot and their friendship and he didn’t want the man thinking otherwise. 

But what could he do to prove that? 

* * *

The answer at the end of the day was simple — hot dogs. 

Quentin had sneaked out while they were working to go to Eliot’s favorite hot dog stand and brought him one. Eliot had done this when he wanted to make amends so it felt right for Quentin to do it too. 

Quentin managed to open the door with his leg without stumbling backward so he called that a win. Then he approached Eliot at his desk.

“I come bearing gifts,” Quentin said. 

“What is this?” 

“A peace offering — I’m sorry I pushed you away. I’m not always great at letting people in, especially new people. When I get into my head it’s really hard for me to get out of it,” Quentin admitted softly.

“I get that,” Eliot mentioned.

“And I’m honestly not used to people trying, normally I just get left alone in my moods. So when you tried to get past that...” 

“It freaked you out?” Eliot wondered.

“At first — but I um… I didn’t hate it,” Quentin said softly, “So hot dog?” 

“I’m meeting Margo for dinner,” Eliot said, and suddenly Quentin doubted his entire plan. 

“I’m sorry I'll just —” Quentin trailed off before he was interrupted by Eliot reaching forward and grabbing one of the hot dogs from his hands. 

“I am most definitely not going to pass this up,” Eliot said with a smile, “Margo is not the biggest fan of hot dogs you know? And while they do go against my entire brand and persona, they have too much nostalgia for me to quit them.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Quentin replied with a fond smile. 

“I’m amazing and you know it.”

Quentin just laughed, Eliot could be so dramatic sometimes. But it worked for him. Quentin was sure if it was anyone else, it would have annoyed him already. But this was Eliot. 

Eliot was biting down on the hot dog and Quentin was trying really hard not to focus on certain aspects of that. Not the time or the place Coldwater. And either way, there was phase two of his plan that needed to be done. Which would never happen if he let his oral fixation get in the way. 

“Would you mind coming with me? I need your opinion on something,” Quentin said and Eliot’s eyes lit up. 

“My opinion?” 

“Yes, your opinion Waugh,” Quentin said and Eliot nodded before they walked towards Quentin’s desk. 

On it was his proposal for the Nutcracker themed Fogg’s Toys party. Photos of the Nutcracker were combined with actual nutcracker figures. Every aspect of the party was laid out in pictures on the table. It was stunning. 

“Thoughts, comments, concerns?” Quentin asked as he saw Eliot look at the different aspects of the party. 

“Wow Quentin this is just — Wow,” Eliot said slack-jawed with smiling eyes, “it’s amazing.”

He grabbed a photograph off of the table and looked at Quentin, “it’s going to be so much fun — but where is the mouse king? Did you forget about the mouse king?”

“He’s a bit scary for a Christmas party,” Quentin pointed out.

“That’s the point. We all know that every good story needs a villain to overcome,” Eliot said excitedly and Quentin couldn’t help but smile at Eliot.

“Oh really?” Quentin said, mostly to see what Eliot would respond. 

“Think about it Coldwater, the mouse king destroys the nutcracker but with a bit of magic,” Eliot says smirking in Quentin’s direction, “the nutcracker is restored and leads the other toys in revolt against the evil mouse king and everyone lives happily ever after.”

Quentin was aware that he was staring, but he couldn’t help it. He honestly never expected Eliot to rant about the mouse king of all things. But it was oddly adorable. 

“The mouse king is adversity and adversity defines us,” Eliot said finishing his rant and then he noticed Quentin’s staring. 

“What?” Eliot said suddenly self-conscious.

“Nothing I just — I guess I never thought about it in that way,” Quentin admitted, it was nice to see Eliot so passionate about something. 

“It’s not just the story — it’s life. We all face adversity in millions of ways, especially those of us that don’t fit the mold,” Eliot said and Quentin knew he was speaking from experience. And suddenly the atmosphere felt heavy. Quentin didn’t know what to say so he went with the long and tried James technique — joke about it.

“And here I thought you just wanted to see a mouse in a costume,” Quentin joked and Eliot smiled at him.

“Oh I totally do — a mouse in a costume is about the coolest thing in the world,” Eliot remarked as they both started laughing. Just like that the tension was broken. 

Their comfortable moment was broken by Margo coming into the room. 

“What are you nerds laughing about?” Margo asked. 

“Mice in uniform,” Eliot answered with a coy smile.

“You know what? Forget I asked,” Margo remarked.

“Hey Margo, we’re just going over details for the Fogg’s Toys Christmas Party,” Quentin explained as Margo hugged him in greeting. 

“Hey Q, you’re looking good.” 

“Thanks, I guess?” Quentin said.

“Q is using the Nutcracker theme for the party,” Eliot said, “And it’s brilliant.”

“Hence the mice in uniform,” Margo said, “it makes sense… so are you ready to go?”

“We’re going skating at Rockefeller,” Eliot explained. 

“James is busy with a big project so I strong-armed Eliot into agreeing to go with me,” Margo said. 

“Bambi normally gets what she wants,” Eliot joked. 

“And don’t you forget it.”

“How could I?” Eliot smiled at his best friend with a fond expression.

“Hope you guys have fun,” Quentin said.

“Thanks — and this is truly outstanding Q, you’re going to rock this meeting,” Eliot mentioned and Quentin’s treacherous heart beat faster once again. Quentin couldn’t help but blush at the praise and suddenly Margo was staring at him in a way that Quentin was scared revealed too much. 

“Thanks. It was great seeing you, Margo.” 

“Likewise,” Margo said with a smirk. 

“Well um, call me if you need anything?” Eliot asked and Quentin nodded.

Then they walked out of the office and Quentin sighed, he needed advice. And he knew just who to call.

“Hey Jules, are you free tonight?” 

* * *

Margo and Eliot talked about random subjects on the way to Rockefeller Center but Eliot could tell she was itching to ask about something in particular. So maybe he shouldn’t have raved about Quentin in front of Margo but he couldn’t help himself. Quentin had done a marvelous job and he deserved the praise.

But of course, his all-knowing best friend was going to ask about it. He just knew it. So he waited for her to bring it up. She didn’t — not until they were already on the rink. 

“So are you going to tell me what the hell that was about?” Margo asked.

“I have no idea what you are referring to,” Eliot said, lying through his teeth.

“Don’t bullshit me El, what was that?” 

“I was just helping Quentin out with the party,” Eliot mentioned nonchalantly. 

“You _like_ him,” Margo told him and Eliot stopped cold, he skied to one of the corners and turned around to face her. 

“Of course I like him I do have to work with him you know.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Margo said skiing towards him and stopping next to him. 

“It’s just a crush it’s going to go away,” Eliot muttered, although it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than her.

“Bullshit.” 

“It really is just a crush, it’s no big deal,” Eliot said.

“Don’t forget I was there when the two of you were decorating together and then earlier tonight, there’s no way that’s a crush. It’s long gone past crush territory — hell I’d say it’s past _like_ territory and into more dangerous waters.”

Eliot dismissed her and shook his head. He really didn’t want to think about that. About how he spent most of the day thinking about Quentin. How he wanted to make him smile and loved when he got a laugh out of him. Which wasn’t easy while they were in work mode. Quentin took his work very seriously after all. He wanted to make Quentin feel better when he was sad and hated seeing him hurt.

But he did not have deep feelings. _Eliot Waugh didn’t do deep feelings._

“You’re wrong,” Eliot muttered.

“El, there was a wrapper from your secret hot dog place on his desk. Don’t think I didn’t notice that,” Margo pointed out. 

Of course, she noticed, Margo doesn’t miss anything. Especially not something like that. The only people who knew about it were Quentin and Margo. He knew she’d see meaning in that. But there’s not. He just — wanted to make Quentin feel better so he took him there. And then opened up about his family. 

But that had been because Quentin opened up about his. Just some quid-pro-quo, that was it. All there was to it.

“It doesn’t mean anything — he’s technically dating that bitch Poppy,” Eliot said before taking off and skiing away from the conversation. 

He should have known Margo wouldn’t give up so easily.

“That’s why you went out with Idri!” Margo exclaimed catching up to him.

“That’s not what it was.”

“Idri is your ex-boyfriend who looks like an Adonis — you wanted to make Quentin jealous,” Margo accused.

“Idri is an old friend who was in town for the night, plus he’s married,” Eliot responded.

“A fact that you probably conveniently forgot to mention to Quentin am I right?” Margo asked hitting right on the mark. 

“No comment.”

“Have you ever tried, I don’t know, talking to Quentin about your feelings?” Margo asked.

“He’s going out with Poppy so it’s a nonstarter.”

“Maybe, Maybe not — you’re not going to know unless you actually ask him about it. Communication is key and all that.”

Eliot just laughed at the irony of Margo telling him he needed to talk to Quentin. Margo who used to run away from feelings and was practically allergic to talking about feelings was now the one telling him to use his words.

“Yes I know it sounds weird coming from me but that’s how you know I’m right,” Margo pointed out.

“Oh how the tables have turned,” Eliot said.

“Yeah, joke about it but of the two of us who is the one in a long-term committed relationship?” 

“Speaking of how is James?” Eliot asked, taking the opportunity to change the conversation. 

“He’s doing very well actually. We’re doing very well. It’s so weird.”

“It is really weird, I never thought I’d see the day you’d be in a relationship.”

“Honestly? Neither did I,” Margo admitted.

“But you’re happy right?” Eliot said looking her in the eye.

“I am — the relationship is surprising and exciting and infuriating at times but I’m truly happy. The thing is that he makes me laugh and he makes me smile,” Margo said.

Eliot smiled at his friend’s words. It’s all he’s ever wanted for Margo. For someone to see how truly fierce and amazing she was. He just wanted his best friend to be happy. It makes him happy to see her smile. 

“Well, then I’m happy too.”

“But are you?” Margo asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you actually happy? Because I want you to be happy too El,” Margo said.

“I’m — working on it,” Eliot said and Margo nodded before challenging him to a race. 

And just like that, the matter was dropped. But now the question was in the back of Eliot’s mind. 

Was he truly happy? 

* * *

One of Quentin and Julia’s holiday traditions was getting Peppermint Mochas at one of their favorite restaurants and then sharing a cheesecake. Quentin loved their friend group, he did, but he was glad that some of the traditions were still just Quentin and Julia. This was one of them.

And normally when they got together, just the two of them, it meant certain topics would be breached. Quentin was prepared for that. Especially because he had so many things running through his head and wanted to get an outside perspective. 

Julia arrived about 10 minutes after he did. He let Julia talk about what was going on with her life first. She and Alice were doing well and Alice had kicked ass at some meeting at her job. Julia sounded so proud that it made Quentin smile. 

Then she turned to him and asked why he’d asked her to come tonight. So he started talking about his pitch. How he was nervous that Poppy was going to sabotage things for him, how he didn’t want to let Jane down and everything else. 

“I wasn’t exactly nice when I turned her down so what if she uses that against me?” Quentin worried. 

“Look she might be the worst but this party is a big deal, I don’t think she’d sabotage it just to spite you. That makes her look bad in front of her boss,” Julia stated.

“I guess — you really think it’s a good proposal?” 

“From what I’ve heard it sounds incredible and I think that Whitespire would be idiots not to like it,” Julia said.

“Eliot loved it even though I’ve been kind of a dick to him recently.”

“5 minutes in and you’ve mentioned Eliot — I think that is a new record,” Julia joked.

“Leave me alone,”

“I’m just saying — if a guy was taking my promotion I’d hate him. I’d be mad 24/7,” Julia pointed out. 

“I can’t do that — it’s not his fault that Jane is the way she is.”

“So that’s the only reason you’re not mad at him 24/7?” Julia asked with a knowing look. 

“He’s a good guy okay and he’s got this amazing —,” Quentin trailed off as it all hit him like a freight train. He _really liked_ Eliot. It was a lot more than a crush. _Fuck._

“Q? What is it?” Julia asked.

“Imagination.” 

“So what? You have a good imagination too Q, there’s no excuse for nepotism,” Julia said, missing the point. 

“No I mean — that’s what I usually say about my dad… he had an amazing imagination,” Quentin said and then put his head in his hands as he saw Julia realize what he was talking about. 

“So did it finally hit you?” Julia asked

“I knew I had a crush okay? I didn’t know it went beyond that.” 

“Oh Q I could have told you that,” Julia said with a smirk.

“It’s not funny, this is a disaster,” Quentin muttered.

“Oh yes having feelings about an attractive guy who likes talking to you, respects your work and thinks you’re the best? Such a hardship,” Julia remarked.

“This isn’t good Julia, he’s not even interested in me I’ve seen his type. You should have seen the guy he went out with the other night,” Quentin said remembering Idri and Quentin’s attempt at asking Eliot out, “You know I almost asked him out? I was this close and then this gorgeous guy comes in and asks if he’s ready to go and I was like yeah this makes sense.”

“It’s not exactly like you’re ugly Q,” Julia pointed out.

“I know I’m not but I’m also not drop-dead gorgeous.”

“Have you looked in a mirror lately? You’re a catch.”

Quentin just glared at her and she put her hands up.

“Okay fine I’ll drop it.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Quentin complained.

“Hey there’s always Poppy, she’s interested,” Julia joked and moved away when Quentin threw a balled-up paper napkin at her. 

“Shut up,” Quentin said but he’s laughing. 

“It will work out Q, I know it.” 

“I certainly hope so.” 

Although he wasn’t sure what he was going to do next time he saw Eliot. But that would be a problem for future Quentin, right now Quentin was enjoying a good conversation with his best friend. 

* * *

The next day the pitch looked incredible. 

Everything was ready and it looked marvelous — Quentin couldn’t wait to see what the actual party would look like. He had a feeling it was going to be magical. Now he just had to get through this pitch without any major issues. The white trees looked wonderful, he’d gotten someone to stand in as Santa sitting on a sort of throne. The wooden nutcrackers looked incredible. 

One of the ballerinas wasn’t there yet but he’d have to do with just one. At least all of the musicians were here. That was what mattered. All that was missing was Poppy. 

And then Poppy arrived looking at the room with a slight disdain that Quentin hoped he was imagining. 

“Hey Poppy, thank you so much for coming in,” Quentin said as he greeted Poppy. 

“It was my pleasure,” Poppy said. 

“We’re still missing one of the ballerinas but hopefully you’ll still get a pretty good idea of how this is supposed to go,” Quentin said and then turned to the musicians, “music please.”  
  


When the musicians started playing Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers, the ballerina started dancing as Quentin got ready to begin his explanation. 

“The theme this year is the Nutcracker. We’re going to have toy soldiers as waiters, giant presents, even a Mouse King.”

“A Mouse King?” Poppy asked confused. 

“He’s going to be the mascot. He will be cartoony and friendly don’t worry,” Quentin said smiling, “so the idea behind all of this is that we’re going to enter into a child’s imagination. While still keeping the event classy for your other clients.”

Quentin walked towards the middle of the room, “We’re going to have Santa over here for the kids. We should be able to accommodate around 40 children and then over here we could have the hot turkey dinner. We might need to add more chairs — I need to check in with the shelters about their numbers.”

“Shelters?” Poppy asked incredulously. 

“Well that is the tradition,” Quentin said starting to get worried at the expression on Poppy’s face.

“What the — stop the music,” Poppy said and so the music stopped and the dread in Quentin’s stomach got larger and larger. 

“Quentin, we talked about this… A baby pool open to the public, that is it,” Poppy said, in the most serious tone Quentin had ever heard her speak in, “this is a fucking ocean.”

“It’s not an ocean?” Quentin asked confused, “We’re still doing your VIP room, in the smaller ballroom of course but still.”

“This is where you’re putting all the money — this room,” Poppy said gesturing with her hands as Quentin crossed his arms and tried to hide in his hair. 

“You do realize the 24th is a week away right?” Poppy demanded and Quentin wanted nothing more than to say _No Shit Sherlock._ So he chose not to say anything. 

“I need to think and we need to get this sorted out now.” 

“Of course, your office?” Quentin asked

“What? Fuck no — yours. I don’t want Mr. Kringle dropping in. I’ll be there in an hour. Hopefully, I can find a way to salvage this before it ends up being even more of a fucking disaster. For someone who claims to be the best in the business you really screwed the pooch on this one. This is not what Whitespire is expecting.” 

With that, she stormed out of the place almost colliding with Eliot who was on the way in with the missing ballerina. 

“Is it over already?” Eliot asked.

“Before it even started,” Quentin said trying to fight back tears.

This could not have gone worse.

“You can go,” Quentin told the ballerina.

“I just got here.” 

“Yeah the party is over,” Quentin said leaving the room before he started bawling in front of everyone.

He got halfway into the hall before Eliot caught up to him. Eliot grabbed his hand and Quentin ignored the jolt. 

“What happened?” Eliot asked.

“I can’t do it El, I can’t give Whitespire what they want and also deliver the people’s party,” Quentin cried before wiping his tears. Eliot put his arms around him and hugged him tightly, letting him cry for a moment. 

A minute later Quentin took a step back and wiped at his eyes. 

“Come with me — I want to show you something,” Eliot said looking at him in the eyes.

“I’m not in the mood for elf prints and reindeer tracks,” Quentin muttered. 

“Well good because this is something entirely different,” Eliot said grabbing Quentin’s hand and heading back into the room. All that is left in the room are the decorations, everyone else has left.

“What are we doing here El?” Quentin wondered.

“Just tell me what do you see?” Eliot asked.

“I appreciate what you’re doing but it’s over.”

“Just have some vision, what do you see?” Eliot asked again and Quentin knew he wasn’t going to stop asking until Quentin gave him a response. Eliot was stubborn like that. But right now Quentin couldn’t think of anything outside of how much of a massive failure this was.

“Okay I’ll go first then, over here I see kids who think Santa is not coming this year because their family is going through hard times and then I see those same kids’ faces light up when Santa gives them exactly what they wanted,” Eliot said and then put a hand on Quentin’s back, “and over here I see those kids’ parents. They think that life has given up on them and here they are being treated to a VIP dinner which helps them realize that it hasn’t.”

And then he moved to Quentin’s other side, making Quentin turn to look at the direction Eliot is looking in. 

“And over here I see a little boy who is so mesmerized by what your imagination has dreamed up that he is inspired to do the same thing some day.”

Quentin just stared at Eliot softly. He never stood a chance, did he? He was always going to fall for him. Why wouldn’t he? When Eliot was just _this good?_

“Thank you — sadly Poppy doesn’t see it that way. Just because you can envision it doesn’t make it real. No matter how much I want it to be. I think I would actually need a Christmas miracle to save all of this,” Quentin remarked softly. 

“They do happen Q, you said so yourself remember?” Eliot said, “The element of surprise —”

“Is the key to every successful party,” Quentin said finishing the slogan, he looks down and sighs, “I honestly appreciate all you’re trying to do but I need to go talk to Poppy.”

With that, he left the room even though he wanted nothing more than to stay there and give in to Eliot’s ideas. Give in to the idea of Christmas miracles. But those were rare and far between and it seemed like luck wasn’t on Quentin’s side this holiday season. 

* * *

Quentin was stressed — he was so stressed that everyone was giving him a wide berth. But at least he’s no longer crying. He couldn’t believe he practically fell apart in Eliot’s arms. He hoped that Eliot didn’t think he was ridiculous or anything. It had already been a long and trying day and the day had barely even started. 

And then there’s a knock on the door and in walked Poppy with a gift in her hands. 

“I’ve been thinking a lot about it, we can use curtains to create space in the main ballroom and we —” Quentin started to say but Poppy interrupted him.

“You’re fired, Quentin.” 

“What?” Quentin asked.

“There’s no arguing with Nicholas Kringle so you’re done.” 

“Did you even try?” Quentin asked and Poppy shrugged.

“I told him what happened this morning and we came to a conclusion.”

“Is this personal? Are you taking it out on me because I didn’t want to go on a second date with you?” Quentin asked, the question had been on his tongue for a while now. 

“It’s business, nothing personal hot stuff,” Poppy replied, “although I still hope you’ll reconsider. We could be great together. You’re good looking, I’m good looking, imagine how great the sex would be.” 

“I wasn’t interested in you before you fired me and now I’m even less interested,” Quentin said, he doesn’t have to be nice anymore after all. 

“Well fine — either way I found this and thought you might want to have it. Spirit of the holidays and that nonsense,” Poppy said before handing him the box, “Found it in the Fogg archives.” 

“A gift isn’t going to make it up to me,” Quentin said.

“I know and I am kind of sorry you got fired. So — laters,” Poppy said leaving his office. 

Quentin couldn’t believe what had just happened. Did he just get fired from their biggest event? How was he going to explain this to Jane? She was definitely not going to like this. If anything this would reflect even worse on Quentin. All he wanted was to shine and show Jane how important he was for the company. And all he did was fuck everything up. 

What the fuck. 

They were a week from the 24th and now the Fogg’s Toys Party was canceled. Quentin couldn’t help but think of all the families that relied on that party. He’d failed them too. 

He went back to his desk and opened the box. It was a photo of him at Fogg’s Christmas Party. He recognized the decor and the outfit he was wearing. It’s the same year he asked Santa for a job for his dad. 

Suddenly he felt like crying again — how can everything go so wrong so fast. 

How was he ever going to fix this?

* * *

Eliot had been trying really hard not to fret about what happened this morning with Quentin. Seeing him break down like that had broken his heart. He hoped that Poppy and Whitespire didn’t do anything drastic. That party was wonderful and Quentin’s proposal had been iconic. If they didn’t go for it, they were fools. 

Quentin deserved this — he’d put a lot of work into it. But he can’t keep worrying about that. He needed to focus on the children. The Children’s Center Christmas Party was his responsibility after all. 

Which is the only reason that he was in a reindeer costume right now. He looked cute — because let’s face it — he could rock any outfit, but let’s just say he had a newfound respect for the people who worked as Disney characters over at Disneyland. This was definitely not the most comfortable of outfits. 

Technically, he wasn’t the only one in a ridiculous outfit. Margo had offered to help out so she was now wearing a small red dress as she helped the children work on their gingerbread houses. He was in the back looking at all the children working on their different tasks. It was all very cute. 

“Remind me again why I decided to help with this?” Margo said coming towards him.

“Because you’re an amazing friend,” Eliot joked. 

“I look fantastic in this dress but it’s an uncomfortable disaster,” Margo complained and then Eliot took off the reindeer head.

“You’re really talking about uncomfortable while I’m the one sweating under here?” Eliot muttered. 

“You do look very adorable as a reindeer though,” Margo pointed out as she took a photo of him in the costume. 

“Thank you for doing this,” Eliot said with a smile.

“Hey what are friends for, outside of strong-arming them into doing things for you.” 

“That is one of the rules of friendship.”

“Truly,” Margo said and then Eliot’s phone rang. 

It was his agent. Eliot hadn’t talked to him since he’d gotten to New York City. To be honest, he wasn’t a big fan of talking to him. Todd was well _Todd._

“Hey, Todd what’s up?” Eliot asked as he answered the phone.

_“Hey, Eliot! I have news!”_

“Well, what are you waiting for?”

_“You got the part!”_

“What? You’re kidding me,” Eliot said, he’d almost forgotten the part. It didn’t seem as important among the new things he was doing around here. And the people he was hanging out with. 

_“Yeah, you just have to be back by Christmas Eve because they want to see you.”_

“Back by Christmas Eve?” Eliot asked, he’d miss the party Quentin was planning. 

_“Yeah Christmas Eve, can you hear correctly?”_

“Yes I can hear correctly Todd — I’m just processing,” Eliot remarked. 

_“Well what do you say?”_

“I don’t know — it’s late here. Let me think about it.”

_“They want an answer, Eliot.”_

“I’ll give you my answer tomorrow okay?” Eliot said before hanging up. 

Then his phone vibrated once again and he saw he had a new voicemail. It was from Quentin. He was probably calling about how the meeting with Poppy went. So Eliot immediately pressed play. 

“Poppy fired me El, Fogg’s Toys is done, I’ll talk to you later,” Quentin’s voice said on the recording. It sounded like he’d been crying. The first thing Eliot wanted to do was give Poppy a piece of his mind. How dare she? Quentin was the best in the business. 

Not only that! Quentin dared to give her the time of day and she pulled this bullshit? It made Eliot see red. Margo noticed his expression and headed back to where he was standing. 

“I heard you were talking to Todd, what did he want?” 

“I got the part,” Eliot muttered.

“El that’s great!” Margo said excitedly, "Wait why aren’t you excited? This is what you wanted right?” 

“Whitespire and that idiot Poppy just fired Quentin,” Eliot said.

“Shit.” 

“That party means everything to him, how could they do this?” 

“Money, Capitalism, there are a million reasons why people do things,” Margo said.

“Can you cover for me here?” 

“You know I can but why?” Margo asked with a knowing look. 

“I’m going to Whitespire and talking some sense into that Bitch” Eliot retorted not missing how Margo rolled her eyes at him. He can practically imagine what she’s thinking. 

“Ugh fine go, just don’t get in any fights where I have to go bail you out,” Margo replied as Eliot hugged her. 

“Thank you I owe you!” Eliot said heading towards the entrance but he could still hear Margo’s response.

“Damn right you do!” 

Now all he needed to do was go to Whitespire and convince them to change their minds again. 

Wait he was dressed as a reindeer. That probably wouldn’t help his case. He would go get changed first then he would go to Whitespire. Poppy had to change her mind. He had to do this for Quentin. 

* * *

About 20 minutes later he walked into Whitespire looking his best. If he was going to get Quentin his party back he had to look the part. He’d charmed the security guard downstairs into letting him go up to the Whitespire offices even if he didn’t have an appointment. Charming people into letting him do things was one of his favorite skills. He was glad he could use it for this. 

He walked towards the secretary and put on his best smile.

“Hello darling, can you tell me where Poppy Kline’s office is?” 

“Do you have an appointment?” She asked.

“Not quite — but we have a matter to discuss, she’ll want to hear what I have to say.”

“I can’t let you into her office without an appointment. I’d get fired.”

“Yeah that’s not good, we don’t want that, then can you call her to come here?” 

“I — maybe?” 

“Thank you doll, you’re the best,” Eliot said as the secretary made the call. 

A few minutes later the redhead that was the cause of all of Eliot’s recent troubles descended to the reception. Eliot tried to see what it was that Quentin saw that interested him so much but once again, he can’t really see it. 

“Ms. Kline, do you remember me? I’m Eliot Waugh,” Eliot said as she headed his way.

“Oh it’s you,” Poppy said and actually rolled her eyes, ugh. _You’re doing this for Quentin. You can’t be rude — no matter how much you want to be._

“Yes it’s me can we talk?”

“I’m very busy.” 

“You can listen to me for 5 minutes and then you can go on doing whatever it is you’re doing here,” Eliot said.

“Fine you’ve got 5 minutes — time is money,” Poppy said.

“Quentin Coldwater is the best damn party planner in this city, hell he’s probably the best in the state, or better yet in the country. You’re making a huge mistake by firing him. Just give him another chance.”

“You think I don’t want to? He’s a cutie, I’d rather stay on his good side. I like Quentin and think he’s really talented but this is done,” Poppy said.

“Then just undo it.”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

“Why not, you’ve got the account right? It’s your call to make,” Eliot pointed out. 

“It’s not that easy.” 

“Come on Poppy it’s Christmas,” Eliot said trying to appeal to her better nature, if she even had one. 

“It’s not Christmas Eliot, it’s my job. A job I’m good at, that I don’t intend to lose because some nerd has a bunch of sob stories about a party. It’s the real world, he should grow the fuck up.”

“You really are a Scrooge, aren't you?” Eliot said. 

“It’s not my fault that your people can’t handle simple directions.” 

“You know what? That nerd as you call him is 100 times the person that you are on your very best day. People like Quentin Coldwater don’t come around frequently and you are an absolute idiot for letting him go. Christmas is about community and love, it’s not VIP rooms and wristbands. Your party is going to be a boring disaster when it could have been a masterpiece. So goodbye Ms. Ebenezer,” Eliot said before storming out towards the elevators and then out of the building.

Whitespire could stay with their boring exclusive party. He had a plan that could cheer Quentin up. And maybe, just maybe, he could convince him to do the party after all. The people, and Quentin, deserved to have their party the way they wanted it. He just needed some help to make the next part of his plan a reality. 

And he knew just where to get it. He drove back to the office and headed up the elevators like a man on a mission. He didn’t even stop by his desk, Eliot went directly to his godmother’s office. 

The moment he walked in, she was going over some papers when he stopped by her desk.

“Ellie, this is a surprise, what do you need?”

“Hey Jane, I’m giving Quentin an assist with the Fogg’s Toys party.”

“That’s great, I’m glad you’re working together.”

“I need the past attendants list, do you by any chance have those?” Eliot asked and she got up from her desk.

“I think so — I should,” Jane said looking behind her at her drawers a few minutes later she grabbed a packet of papers and handed them to Eliot, “that’s it.”

“That’s perfect, thank you,” Eliot said giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” 

This was truly perfect. Now all Eliot had to do was make some calls and his plan could be set in motion. He was going to need Margo’s, and maybe James’, help in this. Even if he couldn’t get Quentin to go forward with the party at the very least he would cheer him up.

That’s what truly mattered here. He just wanted Quentin to be happy. 

* * *

Quentin hadn’t been able to stay in the office today. It had just made him more depressed to think of how everything had gone sideways. So he went out and did the thing his therapist and Alice said he should do when he’s got too much on his mind. He took a walk. Walking was supposed to help him clear his thoughts or at least that’s what they said. 

For Quentin, it only worked some of the time. But he was willing to try anything really. New York City was always gorgeous but it got even prettier during the holiday season, so at least there was that. Without realizing it, he’d ended up at Fogg’s Toy Store. Without thinking twice he went inside before he could regret it. 

Walking inside Fogg’s Toys was always like walking into the past. It made Quentin feel like he was that little boy again. One that wasn’t weighed down by anxiety and depression. One for which everything was possible if he just believed it would be. 

He was so focused on looking around he didn’t see Henry Fogg in a Santa suit approach him.

“Looking for someone?” Fogg asked, making Quentin jump a little bit, “hello Quentin.”

“Hi Mr. Fogg how are you,” Quentin said greeting him with a hug. 

“Well I’m here instead of inside a bottle so I think I’m doing good,” Fogg said.

“I was hoping I’d find you still putting on the suit,” Quentin replied.

“I might have sold my store but that doesn’t mean I sold my heart,” Fogg said, “So what is on your mind, you don’t usually come here unless you need to talk to someone.” 

“I need to get better at that I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, my boy, I know you’re a busy man.” 

And so Quentin set out to tell him everything that had happened. Starting from the first meeting with Todd, to the last one. And everything that happened in between. 

“I just…Whitespire Mr. Fogg, they fired me, can you believe that?” Quentin said sadly, “and the thing is that if it had been any other event… I would have given them the most exclusive party ever. But that’s not what this party represents. Fogg’s Toys isn’t about VIP rooms and wristbands. It’s not what the party is about.”

“The party is about the people,” Fogg said incredulously, “we even shook hands on it. In my day, that used to mean something.”

“Jane is already looking at her godson as heir apparent, when she finds out I lost the party — there’s no telling what she will do. What if she fires me? All I wanted was to prove my worth.” 

“She’s not going to fire you. Jane is a lot of things but she’s no idiot. This is on Whitespire not on you. You’re still the best in the business. Hell if you wanted to you could walk away and set up your own company. I’m sure most, if not all of the clients would go with you.”

“No matter how angry she makes me I could never do that to her.”

“I know, I’m just saying you could and she knows that,” Fogg pointed out and Quentin shrugged. He had no intention of starting his own company. He liked _this_ company. He loved working for it. 

“What can I do?” 

“Close your eyes and tell me what you see,” Fogg said with a serious expression, but Quentin just stared at him incredulously.

“Seriously?”

“Just humor me, Mr. Coldwater.”

“Fine,” Quentin said closing his eyes, "I see your Christmas party as a child. I see my dad coming home from work with all the Christmas twinkling lights behind him. I see the look of joy at all the kids' faces at your party and the relief on their parents' faces.”

“That’s what’s in your heart Quentin, listen to it and you’ll always find your way,” Fogg said.

“Thank you.” 

“Now if you excuse me, duty calls,” Fogg said as he headed to sit on the throne.

Quentin smiled at him, Fogg always had a way of putting things in perspective for Quentin. Maybe that’s why he’d ended up here. 

Then his phone vibrated with the sign of an incoming text. Quentin checked his phone, it was a text from Eliot.

_Meet me at the Hall. Emergency._

Quentin was surprised and feeling slightly exhausted. What had happened now? He made his way out of the store and headed back to the office. Hopefully, the place hadn’t burnt down. 

* * *

Quentin walked into the building and immediately walked towards the hall. He didn’t know what the emergency was but he wanted to get it sorted as soon as possible. And then he walked into the hall not expecting to see what he was seeing. 

Eliot was standing in the middle of a group of people. James and Margo were off to the side. Which was slightly weird. James rarely came to Quentin’s office. Quentin thought he recognized some of the people but he wasn’t sure. He was mostly just confused as to what the emergency was.

“What’s the emergency?” Quentin asked.

“No emergency I just needed you to get here as soon as possible,” Eliot answered sheepishly. 

“What’s going on?” Quentin asked looking around at the people in the room. Everyone was smiling at him. 

“There are some people here who have something to say to you,” Eliot said.

“Thank you,” An older man said.

“Thank you,” a teenager said. 

“I — I’m confused,” Quentin admitted as Eliot walked towards him.

“You’ve touched each and everyone one of these people in past Fogg’s Toys parties,” Eliot said as he walked closer. 

“When we needed it most,” A man hugging his daughter commented.

“When we’d lost hope,” A mother with her son remarked. 

“You made sure we had Christmas,” the teenager from before said. 

Quentin couldn’t believe he this was happening. He felt like crying for what seemed like the millionth time this day. But this time it wasn’t sad tears. He was so profoundly moved by all of this. 

“They’re real Q, not imagination,” Eliot said and Quentin just looked at him and fell even more in love with him. No one had ever done anything like this for him before. 

“Who needs a Christmas miracle when we’ve got each other right?” Eliot said with a smile as Quentin just smiled again and laughed before pulling Eliot into a hug and melting into it. Ignoring the look that James and Margo sent in their direction.

“You’re right — we’re going to do Fogg’s Toys without Whitespire,” Quentin declared. 

“There’s the Quentin Coldwater we know and love ladies and gentlemen,” Eliot said as everyone cheered. Quentin and Eliot smiled at each other as Margo and James came up to them.

“Hey guys,” Quentin greeted. 

“Hey Q,” James said hugging his friend. 

“Thanks for this — it’s exactly what I needed today,” Quentin said. 

“The idea was all Eliot — we just helped in calling people,” James said.

Eliot just shrugged as Quentin looked at him. 

“It was truly no big deal. I just wanted to do something nice.”

“Thank you,” Quentin replied.

“So Q, did you hear about El’s big news?” Margo asked.

“No what is it?” Quentin wondered looking up at Eliot.

“Remember that soap opera I was called back for?” Eliot asked and Quentin nodded, "Well I got the part.” 

“Wow — I … uh … congratulations,” Quentin said giving him another hug.

“Thanks,” Eliot said sheepishly.

“No one deserves it like you do,” Quentin said and Eliot nodded before Margo called him away for something.

“You okay Q?” James asked with a knowing expression. 

“Yeah I’m fine — just slightly overwhelmed,” Quentin said.

“You sure that’s it?” 

“Yeah, that’s it.” 

“Okay,” James said, although it looked like he didn’t quite believe him.

Quentin put on his best smile and headed to talk to the people. He was not going to think about the possibility of Eliot leaving. He had a party to plan after all. 

* * *

Quentin went home when he was done with work. He got home to his empty apartment and everything just hit him. The thing about being home was that no he had no excuse or anything to occupy his mind. There was a big chance Eliot was leaving. When all of this had started he would have been all too happy to see him leave. But now? Now the idea of Eliot leaving to go to the other side of the country made Quentin want to get out the Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.

Which was exactly what he did. 

He sat in the living room with his ice cream just thinking about everything. Maybe Eliot wasn’t going to leave, maybe he’d turn down the role? But that made Quentin feel selfish. If this was what Eliot wanted then as a good friend Quentin should support him right? Even if it means Eliot will be living and working on the other side of the country. 

He was enjoying drowning his feelings in ice cream when he heard the door open and saw as Alice walked in. 

“Q — I’m just here because we ran out of bread,” Alice said.

“Hey Vix,” Quentin said and then Alice noticed what he was eating.

“Mint Chocolate Chip — shit — what happened?” Alice asked sitting down next to him.

“Nothing.”

“Yeah the mint chocolate chip ice cream you’re eating tells another story,” Alice said looking at him, Quentin sighed. 

He knew that she’d get him to break eventually so he should just tell her.

“Eliot is leaving.”

“That’s great news, right? It means you’ll take over for Jane when she retires right?” Alice wondered and Quentin didn’t look at her. Just looked at his ice cream. 

“Umm maybe,” Quentin said.

“Then why aren’t you happier?” Alice wondered and he got her confusion, after all this is all he’s wanted for a long time. Quentin just shrugged at her. 

“Wait was Julia right? Do you have a thing for him?” Alice asked, ”Big thing or small thing?” 

“Big thing,” Quentin admitted and Alice sighed.

“Shit.”

“Exactly — I can’t help it. I tried not to and he snuck up on me.”

“Yeah, I know what that’s like.”

“He just did the most incredible thing for me,” Quentin said and then he told her about everything that had happened that day. Ending with Eliot’s beautiful and heartwarming surprise. 

“I’m not an expert but that’s definitely romantic,” Alice said with a smile.

“I don’t want him to leave Vix,” Quentin admitted.

“Then why don’t you tell him that? Go to his place and pour your heart out,” Alice suggested and Quentin just ate his ice cream.

“I don’t know.”

“Look you won’t know how he feels unless you try okay.”

“What if he doesn’t feel the same way?” 

“Then at least you made the effort,” Alice said taking the ice cream away from him, which earned her a complaint from Quentin, “What would Julia say if she were here?”

“That I should go for what I want.”

“Then what are you still doing here Q? Go get your man,” Alice said leaving no room for Quentin to say no. 

Quentin nodded, then he got up and headed towards his bar. He grabbed a bottle of champagne. He can’t show up empty-handed after all. Then looked at Alice, “Do I look okay?” 

“You look great now go.”

“Thanks Vix,” Quentin said giving her a kiss on the cheek before grabbing his keys and heading out the door again. 

Was he really doing this? He was really doing this. He hailed a cab and gave him Eliot’s address. He just hoped he didn’t regret it. 

* * *

He couldn’t believe he was doing this. Quentin was literally standing outside of Eliot’s apartment with a bottle of champagne. What was he even going to say? What if Eliot wasn’t even home. Maybe he was on another date with the attractive man from the other night. 

Come on Quentin you made it all the way here. All you have to do is knock on the door. What’s the worst that could happen?

Quentin was five seconds away from listening to his brain and just leaving when he remembered Alice’s words. Then he remembered the nice thing that Eliot had done earlier in the day and he knew what he had to do.

So he knocked. 

Eliot opened the door surprised to see Quentin. Quentin just smiled at him and showed him the bottle. 

“Q? What are you doing here?” Eliot asked. 

“I thought we could celebrate?” Quentin mentioned, “can I come in?”

“Yeah, of course, come on in,” Eliot said moving aside so Quentin could come inside. And then he closed the door behind him. 

They were both inside staring at each other nervously. They both started to say something and then Quentin made a motion for Eliot to say what he wanted to say.

“To what do I owe the honor of your visit?” Eliot remarked.

“I wanted to thank you for what you did earlier,” Quentin started to say. 

“It was truly no big deal.” 

“No it was — it’s the nicest and sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” Quentin said and Eliot blushed and hid a smile.

“Well, I just — I wanted to cheer you up.”

“You definitely succeeded,” Quentin said.

“Good — I’m glad,” Eliot said smiling.

“I brought this to celebrate,” Quentin said and Eliot nodded and they walked towards the bar where Eliot put the champagne in an ice bucket. The ice-bucket is half-filled with ice and half with water.

“We’ll leave that there for 20 minutes,’ Eliot said.

“So how has the rest of your day been.”

“It was nice — Margo took me to my favorite restaurant to celebrate,” Eliot said as they walked towards the couch and sat down.

“That sounds great,” Quentin said, “Speaking of parties, how did the thing at the Children’s Center go?” 

“I think it went really well,” Eliot said proudly, “even if I had to wear a reindeer costume the entire time.”

“Well you looked very adorable in it,” Quentin pointed out.

“You saw it?” Eliot asked surprised.

“Margo posted a photo or two on Insta,” Quentin said, not mentioning how seeing those photos had made his shitty day slightly better.

“Well it was the least I could do — and the children seemed to enjoy the party so I was happy.”

“You did a wonderful job with it so I’m sure they loved it,” Quentin said.

“I hope so.”

Eliot suddenly got quiet and Quentin looked at him. It seemed like something was weighing on his mind and all Quentin wanted to do was help him. 

“Eliot are you okay?” 

“I’m fine.”

“El,” Quentin said grabbing Eliot’s hand, Eliot sighed.

“The thing is that I don’t know if I’m going to take it,” Eliot remarked and Quentin looked confused.

“Take what?” Quentin asked

“The part,” Eliot reminded him.

“Right, why not?” 

“To be honest? I had mostly forgotten about it till I got the call during the party at the children’s center.”

“You’ve had other things on your mind,” Quentin guessed. 

“Yeah, and it feels strange? I love acting, I do but I feel a bit at a crossroads,” Eliot explained.

“You’re not sure what road you should take?” Quentin asked and Eliot nodded.

“It’s ridiculous really… I struggled a lot to get roles when I was in LA, I worked as a bartender to pay my rent. Which I’m aware is so cliche,” Eliot said, “I literally have a degree in this so I should want the role right? It feels like if I don’t take it I’d be throwing all my hard work down the drain. I’d be throwing all the help Jane gave me down the drain.”

“You wouldn’t be though — maybe this role isn’t right for you or maybe it is. But I know that even if you turn it down you’re not throwing away anything. Everything you did lead you here right? The things you learned? They’re yours and no one can take that away from you.”

“You really think so?”

“I do,” Quentin said softly. 

“What do you think I should do?” Eliot asked looked at Quentin’s eyes. 

Quentin wanted nothing more than to scream, stay here with me. But he couldn’t be selfish about it. 

“I think you should do what’s in your heart,” Quentin said looking at Eliot’s lips for a moment before looking back at his eyes.

“How do I figure that out?” Eliot asked.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that,” Quentin remarked and before Eliot can say another word the timer goes off and breaks their moment. 

That meant the champagne was ready. 

“We should probably get that,” Eliot said

“Yeah,” Quentin agreed as they got up and went back to the bar area, “So did you learn any fancy tricks in your time as a bartender.” 

“Watch and learn,” Eliot remarked with a mischievous smile.

Eliot smirked at him and grabbed one of his chef’s knives from one of the drawers placing it on the top of the bar. Quentin just looked amused. He wanted to see how far Eliot would go with this. 

“Please tell me you’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do.”

“You wanted to see a trick right?” Eliot retorted as Quentin rolled his eyes.

“Just be careful will you.”

“Don’t worry Q, I’ve done this flawlessly a few times before,” Eliot said with a smirk as he grabbed the bottle from the ice with his right hand. 

First Eliot made sure to wipe the moisture from the bottle. Then he took off all of the foil until there was no more left, then he cautiously took off the wire cage off the top of the bottle. Quentin was standing behind him watching him as he worked. 

He was morbidly curious to see how this was going to go. 

“You sure you know how to do this?” Quentin asked nervously. 

“Ye of little faith,” Eliot said as he located the seam of the bottle positioned it so it was facing upwards then put his right thumb in the punt of the bottle. The bottle was at a 45-degree angle. Quentin was intrigued by how focused Eliot looked as he made sure everything was perfect. 

Then as Eliot was left-handed he grabbed the kitchen knife with his left hand. He put the blade flat against the glass and in one quick and smooth motion he swung the knife. The cork went flying as champagne dripped on Eliot’s hand. 

It was like magic. And it was so fucking sexy. 

“Voila!” Eliot exclaimed and Quentin laughed.

“I can’t believe that actually worked,” Quentin said.

“Neither can I,” Eliot admitted, placing the knife on the bar, before realizing what he said, “I mean of course I knew it would work because I’m fabulous.” 

“That remains to be seen,” Quentin teased.

“Oh really?” Eliot asked, then he threw some champagne in Quentin’s face. 

“You’re a bastard,” Quentin said wiping his face.

“Yeah I really am — what are you going to do about it Coldwater?” Eliot said looking at Quentin’s lips. Then Quentin grabbed the bottle from Eliot’s hand and placed it back on the bar. 

“This,” Quentin said and then he pulled Eliot in for a kiss. 

From the sound Eliot made, Quentin knew he took him by surprise. It was a small kiss, simple and fast and then it was over. Eliot stared at him for a moment and Quentin almost regretted making a move. Then Eliot pulled him in for another kiss. This kiss was stronger and more passionate. It was as if all the tension between them had finally exploded. Quentin bit Eliot’s lip eliciting a response from Eliot. One of Eliot’s hands was on Quentin’s neck while the other was on his back pulling him closer. 

Then the kiss broke apart and Quentin moved to take Eliot’s vest and shirt off as Eliot took off Quentin’s jacket.

“You wear too many layers,” Eliot muttered against his neck.

“And your clothes are way too tight,” Quentin replied as he moved his arms up so Eliot could take Quentin’s shirt off. 

“So you’ve noticed?” 

“Of course I’ve noticed,” Quentin said as he finally managed to undo all of the buttons on the vest and started unbuttoning Eliot’s shirt. 

“Need some help with that?” Eliot smirked.

“Shut up,” Quentin said kissing him again as he pulled Eliot’s shirt off. 

Then they were both shirtless, the only thing on Eliot’s chest was his tie, but that could stay for now. Eliot kissed Quentin’s neck pushing him back until they fell on top of the couch. Both of them laughing as they did. Quentin almost couldn’t believe this was happening. 

He was making out with Eliot Waugh on his couch. It was almost too good to be true. Then Eliot noticed his look. 

“Are you okay, do you want to stop?” 

“I’m perfect — please don’t stop,” Quentin said using Eliot’s tie to pull him closer and kiss him again. This time slower, like he wanted to kiss him forever. Eliot smiled at him as they pulled apart and then started kissing his way from Quentin’s neck to his hips and then back up again making Quentin groan. All that Quentin knew was that he was going to have quite a few hickies when all of this was over. 

Eliot smirked as he put all his attention on Quentin’s nipples. Truly enjoying all the sounds Quentin was making. And then he worked his way down and unbuttoned Quentin’s pants. Quentin lifted his hips up so that Eliot could take the pants off and sure enough, soon Quentin was just in his boxers. 

Eliot looked up at Quentin and without breaking eye contact he pulled Quentin’s cock out of his boxers. Then Eliot smiled at Quentin and Quentin knew he was in for it. Eliot started to tease him by licking up and down the shaft. Quentin held on to the couch below him and he looked at Eliot. 

“You’re a .. tease,” Quentin murmured breathlessly.

“You like it,” Eliot said and all he got in response was a groan. Then Eliot went back to taking his time teasing Quentin before taking his cock in his mouth. 

The only thought left in Quentin’s head was that Eliot was too good at that. 

“What do you say we take this to the bedroom? Because if we keep going here, it will be over way too quickly,” Eliot said looking up at Quentin, “And I want to take my time with you.” 

“That sounds — really good,” Quentin replied.

“Plus I have condoms and lube next to my bed.”

“Beds are great but I’m not sure I can move,” Quentin said as Eliot helped him get up from the couch.

Eliot laughed, “It’s just a few steps and then we can really have fun.” 

“Lead the way,” Quentin said leaning on Eliot as they moved towards the bedroom. Eliot kissed him one more time before closing the door behind them. 

* * *

Eliot woke up refreshed. The memories of the previous night coming back to him. He had sex with Quentin, he had really good sex with Quentin. 

He almost didn’t want to open his eyes and start the day. He wanted to remain in his memories of last night. In the memories of the sounds Quentin made and the sounds Eliot himself had made. It had been truly spectacular. 

Even if they had completely forgotten about the champagne. 

He opened his eyes expecting to see Quentin next to him but the bed was empty. Where was Quentin? He hadn’t imagined things, had he? Because if so that was one vivid dream. He put on the robe he kept next to his bed and walked out of the room.

“Q? Quentin?” Eliot called out, but got no response. 

He headed towards the kitchen and found a freshly brewed pot of coffee with a note beside it. 

_— Had to run, something came up, had a great time last night! Couldn’t bear to wake you when you looked so peaceful. Can’t cook but I made you some coffee! Hope you enjoy it. See you at work. Q —_

Eliot was disappointed that Quentin had left, he’d love to do a repeat of last night, but at least he left a note right? Eliot got out a mug and served himself some coffee. Quentin was right, this is really good coffee. 

At least this way he can figure out what he’s going to say to Quentin the next time he sees him. He needed to go get ready and go to the office but he’d enjoy his coffee for a little longer. 

It really was great coffee.

* * *

Eliot still didn’t know what he was going to say to Quentin when he saw him. But he was trying not to think about that. He had another problem at hand. He still had no clue what to do about the role. 

Which is why he was knocking at Jane’s door. If anyone had some advice, it would be his godmother. 

“Hey, Aunt Jane do you have a minute to talk?” Eliot asked as Jane put down her work and smiled at him.

“For you my darling? I have a full watch of them.”

Eliot smiled at her before taking a seat in front of her desk.

“What’s on your mind, Ellie?” 

“I got a part,” Eliot admitted.

“That’s interesting,” Jane said.

“It’s in a soap-opera and I haven’t decided yet. I need to tell them yes or no today but I still have no clue what to do. I was hoping you’d have some advice for me?” Eliot wondered.

“Is it in your heart?” Jane asked and Eliot flashed back to the previous night when Quentin asked him a similar question.

“Quentin asked me the same thing,” Eliot muttered and Jane smirked.

“Well he’s a wise one,” Jane said, “Don’t think I didn’t notice you didn’t actually give me an answer.”

Was it in his heart? Right now the only thing that came up when he asked himself that question was Quentin’s smile. Which he was trying really heart not to read into.

“I — I think it is? There’s a lot going on in there right now,” Eliot admitted, Jane looked at him like she knew he was holding something back but then stood up straight in her chair.

“Eliot, I’ve lived a lot of dreams in my life. I studied in Paris when I was 20, Then I camped at the Serengeti at 30, then I built this company up to be what it is today. But you know what I’ve figured out?”

“What did you figure out?” 

“If I try to hold on to any of my dreams for too long I wake up. And the last thing I want to do is wake up,” Jane said and Eliot looked pensive, “So when I feel one dream coming to an end you know what I do?” 

“What?” 

“I dream another dream.” 

Then Jane smiled at him and Eliot looked up at her.

“It’s okay to let go of old dreams Eliot, we all change as we get older and sometimes our dreams change too.”

“You think so?”

“A new dream for you could be New York. I mean look around, you’re a natural at this business — or perhaps it is LA and that Soap Opera.”

“What if it’s an impossible dream?” Eliot mentioned looking thoughtful and then he looked at Jane to see her smirking at him, “Please don’t ask me to sing that song for you.”

“You were very endearing as Sancho Panza in junior high,” Jane reminisced making him laugh. It had been one of the things that pushed him towards acting. 

“I’m serious,” Eliot said.

“Eliot darling, you won’t know if it’s impossible until you dream it will you?” Jane pointed out and Eliot had to give her that.

“That is — a good point,” Eliot said and then smiled at her as he got up from the chair, “Thanks Aunt Jane.”

He knew what he had to do now. He had to tell Quentin how he felt. He needed to tell him that he wanted more than just one night. He wanted everything with him, the good and the bad. He needed to be the brave one. 

* * *

Rather than go all out, he decided to go with a single rose, which he thought Quentin would probably like more than a whole bouquet right.

He had everything ready. He had the red rose in his hand and he mostly knew what he wanted to say. Eliot would go up to him hand him the rose and tell Quentin that he had feelings for him.

It’s simple Waugh. 

You can do this.

And then he stepped out of the elevator and saw the delivery man with a bouquet of red roses. Those were probably from Poppy weren’t they? Shit. 

“Are those for Quentin Coldwater?” He asked hoping against hope that the delivery man proved him wrong. But he didn’t. And the bouquet was for Quentin. There was no way his single rose could compete with that.

“I’ll take them,” Eliot said deflated, “Thanks.”

He walked into the office to see Quentin on the phone with Henry Fogg.

“Thank you again Mr. Fogg, Henry please, you have no idea how much your involvement means to me, okay see you soon,” Quentin said as he hung up the phone and Eliot stepped forward.

Quentin’s face lit up when he saw the flowers.

“I ran into the delivery guy in the lobby,” Eliot explained and he thought Quentin looked disappointed for a second. Then it went away. So it was probably just wishful thinking. 

Quentin looked at the card and then looked down. 

“They’re from Poppy,” He said awkwardly. 

Eliot really shouldn’t have done this. He should have just left the delivery guy to make the delivery himself. 

“Yeah, I uh — I figured,” Eliot said.

“She feels guilty,” Quentin muttered and then looked at the flowers with a wistful expression, “they’re beautiful flowers.” 

“There’s thirteen of them, They’re a baker’s dozen, I think. I counted them on the way in,” Eliot said, okay so maybe he’d added his single rose to the bouquet but no one had to know. Eliot didn’t actually know what 13 red roses meant but he knew the meaning of a dozen roses. Maybe it was a bit petty of him to mess that up.

“Maybe the baker was an idea guy himself,” Eliot said.

“Probably?” Quentin asked confused. 

“That’s a new one though. I’ve never heard of a company giving flowers to someone they just fired,” Eliot said putting salt on the wound.

“They’re not from the company,” Quentin said with an exasperated tone in his voice. Maybe he was as tired of this conversation as Eliot was. 

“I see,” Eliot said. 

“No I really don’t think you do,” Quentin mentioned, “I didn’t expect this, not after the last one.”

“The last one?” Eliot asked, now it was him that was confused. 

And then Quentin showed him a framed photo of a little boy, this was probably younger Quentin wasn’t it? All Eliot could think was that he looked sweet.

“She got me that for Christmas.”

“That’s Fogg’s in what I’m guessing is the Nineties? Is she trying to rub it in?” Eliot asked, playing dumb.

“That’s me,” Quentin said.

“So what she gives you a gift and suddenly everything is forgiven?” Eliot asked.

Had he misread everything? Had Quentin just gone to him looking for a rebound? He probably had. And Eliot had fallen for it. He felt like an idiot. Quentin was clearly still hung up on Poppy. No wonder Eliot had woken up alone. And here he was about to admit his stupid feelings.

Quentin looked pissed off and well Eliot was angry as well. He didn’t like being used. 

“It’s not like that,” Quentin said, “Why are you talking like this? I thought after last night —” 

“What about it? We had fun and that was it. No reason to rehash it,” Eliot said and he could have sworn he saw hurt flare in Quentin’s eyes. 

  
He wanted to take it back but then his phone rang. It was Todd.

Fucking Todd.

“It’s my agent,” Eliot said before taking the call, “Hi Todd,”

“Eliot, sorry to bother you but we need an answer.”

“My answer?” Eliot asked looking at Quentin who had his back on him and kept staring at his flowers. This was for the best right? Quentin wasn’t interested, “I’m in.”

“That’s great! You won’t regret this!” 

“Yeah just send me the flight details. Thanks, bye.” 

He just hoped he didn’t regret this. And then he went back to Quentin’s desk. Quentin who looked sad and Eliot wanted nothing more than to hug him at that moment. 

“Soap Opera?” Quentin asked.

“I took the role,” Eliot said.

“I thought you were still deciding,” Quentin said softly.

“Yeah well, the choice was clear,” Eliot said and Quentin’s face looked even sadder.

Eliot had to keep reminding himself to keep his resolve. When the thing he really wanted to do was call back Todd and tell him he wasn’t taking the role. He wanted to throw caution to the window and tell Quentin to forget about Poppy. He wanted to stop being a coward and tell Quentin that he’d fallen in love with him and that the previous night had meant more to him than he could possibly say. 

But he said none of those things. 

“At least this way I’ll be out of your hair and everything can go back to the way it used to be with you and Jane,” Eliot said with a fake smile.

“I don’t — You’re not in my hair,” Quentin looked like he wanted to say something else before backtracking and saying that.

“This is — this is for the best,” Eliot said, “I have to fly out on Christmas Eve.”

* * *

Emotionally this had been the hardest week of Quentin’s life. Or well among the hardest because there were some when the depression was too much to get out of bed. Or the times he was in inpatient care. But of the times when he was in a mostly okay mental state? This was definitely among the hardest. 

When he woke up, he imagined this day going so differently. He’d woken up next to Eliot and it had felt so right. He’d wanted to stay there forever. He wanted to attempt to make breakfast in bed for him, even if he truly could not cook. So he’d settled for making him a good coffee. Then James had called with a situation. And he’d had to go. 

He’d wanted to say goodbye but Eliot had looked more peaceful than he’d ever seen him. So he couldn’t bring himself to wake him and left a note with the coffee. 

It hadn’t actually been a big deal — James was just freaking out about asking Margo to move in with him. Quentin almost wanted to punch him. But he’d had a nice conversation about Eliot. James had been happy for him. Quentin had been happy too. Then he’d gotten to work and everything had gone well. 

Until Eliot arrived. 

Eliot walked in with a bouquet of roses and Quentin felt hope. He’d thought everything was going to finally work out for him. Then he revealed that the flowers weren’t from him and Quentin was honestly disappointed. 

Even worse when they were from _Poppy._ Why won’t that woman leave him alone? All he could think of was how he hoped the flowers were from Eliot. But Eliot was acting strange. Worse yet he was acting as if nothing happened. 

Maybe he shouldn’t have listened to Alice. Because it was clear that the night hadn’t meant anything to Eliot. It was probably just another one night stand. Quentin ended up being just another notch on the bedpost and frankly? That pissed him off. 

He had been about to confront Eliot about it and then Eliot had gotten the phone call. Eliot was truly leaving. 

“I have to fly out on Christmas Eve,” Eliot said and Quentin felt his stomach drop. 

_Christmas Eve?_ … That was in a little more than a week. 

“That soon?” Quentin asked.

“Yeah, they need to meet with me, do wardrobe fitting and all the works. I just want to make sure my stuff is ready for the following week.” 

“I see,” Quentin said, struggling to control his emotions. He needed to put his walls back up but Eliot had knocked them all down and now he didn’t know how to get them back. 

“So I can help you with the Christmas party — but I — I can’t be there,” Eliot said.

“Yeah no I understand — I understand completely,” Quentin said, thankful that his hair was just long enough to hide behind, “as I said before, I’m really happy for you El, you deserve all the best.” 

“Thanks,” Eliot said and then turned around to leave.

Eliot looked uncertain, maybe he was just as torn about this as Quentin was? Maybe Quentin should say something. Quentin needed to say something. He needed to tell him that he had feelings for him, deep feelings. That he shouldn’t go to LA, that he should stay here with him.

“El?” Quentin called when Eliot was halfway to his desk.

“Yeah?” Eliot asked turning around.

But Quentin couldn’t find the words. At least not the ones he truly wanted to say. 

“I guess I just …. I wanted to thank you again… you know for what you did yesterday with bringing the people from previous parties and all that,” Quentin said nervously, “it really was the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

“You’re welcome,” Eliot said and then smiled at Quentin, “Promise me something?” 

“Anything,” Quentin answered.

“No matter what happens,” Eliot started to say and then he put both his arms on Quentin’s shoulders, “No matter what anybody says, you plan the greatest Christmas party this city has ever seen, okay?”

“Okay?” Quentin said softly and then Quentin gave him a kiss on the forehead before walking away. 

Leaving Quentin staring wistfully at his back and hoping for things that could never be. 

* * *

A few hours later, Ashley came into Quentin’s office to tell him that everyone was waiting for him in the meeting room. 

Which meant it was time to compartmentalize. Quentin had to leave those pesky emotions locked in a box for the time being. He needed to put all of his attention on the party. Especially since there was only one week till Christmas. 

Why did he decide to plan a huge party with only a week’s notice? 

He was going to throw up. No… He had no actual time to go throw up. He needed to get to work. Quentin walked towards the boardroom to see everyone there. 

Margo was talking to Eliot while resting on James’ chest, Henry Fogg was seated at the middle of the table with Julia and Alice on the other side of him. These were his friends and he loved his friends. His friends were honestly amazing.

And then Eliot smiled at him and Quentin had to remind his emotions to chill. 

“We’re ready when you are,” Eliot said and Quentin smiled back and turned to the group.

“First of all I want to thank you all for coming, I know this is short notice but I truly believe that if we all work together we can create a beautiful party,” Quentin said as James cheered. 

“Okay so let’s get down to business,” Quentin said, “I know we can’t call it Fogg’s Toys but there’s not any law against calling it Henry Fogg’s”

“Nutcracker Dream,” Eliot interjected, “Henry Fogg’s Nutcracker Dream.” 

“I love it, maybe you are an idea guy,” Quentin said as Eliot smirked at him. Quentin is pretty sure he’s being obvious right now but he finds he doesn’t care, “I’m going to need all your big ideas. Any elements you think can bring this theme to life just bring them on.”

“Will do,” Eliot said.

“We’ve only got a week and that’s not a lot of time, which I’m trying not to stress out about,” Quentin said.

“Q, we’ve got this,” James said.

“Okay, so we’ve got soldiers and ballerinas. I know a girl who does costumes for theater so I’ll get in touch with her,” Eliot said as Quentin nodded, “I’ll get started on the mouse king… Oh! I’ve got a friend who does special effects for Christmas.”

“What kind of effects?” Quentin asked.

“We’re talking an indoor snow machine that uses soap and water,” Eliot said excitedly. 

“That’s perfect El,” Quentin said then turned to Margo, “Margo can you contact your vendor contacts? You can tell them that we’ll run the event through a charitable and we’ll be able to provide any receipts for tax purposes. Anything you can get is good. If it’s alcohol, decorations, food, whatever they give we’ll take it.” 

“Sounds like a plan,” Margo said, “I’ll get right on it.”

“James if you can get us help from your contacts it would also be appreciated.”

“Already on it.” 

Then Quentin turned to Alice and smiled at her.

“Vix? You’re the best artist I know.”

“Yeah I am,” Alice replied with a smile.

“Can you get me a quick design for advertising?” 

“I’d be honored,” Alice said with a smile and Quentin smiled back. 

“Jules, can you help in the social media aspect?” 

“You know I can — what do you need me to do?” Julia asked.

“I need you to saturate social networks with news about the party.”

“That sounds plausible,” Julia agreed.

And then came the final part of the puzzle. Quentin turned to look at Henry Fogg. 

“Henry? I need lots of toys,” Quentin said, “I know you just can’t walk into Fogg’s but —”

“I can do you one better,” Fogg interjected.

“Oh really?” Quentin asked amused. 

“I can go straight to the manufacturer and I can tell them about the tax writeoff,” Fogg said with a slight smile earning a laugh from Eliot. 

“And Santa?” Quentin asked with an amused expression. 

Everyone turned to look at Fogg and after a minute he relented and did the motions of putting on the suit. 

“Ho, Ho, Ho,” is all he said and the rest laughed delightedly. 

“I was hoping you’d say something like that,” Quentin pointed out, “Thank you.” 

“What are you going to do about Whitespire? You know they are going to find out,” Fogg asked him. 

“Yeah well,” Eliot started to say before looking at Quentin, “the element of surprise —”

“Is the key to any successful party,” Quentin finished and then they smiled at each other. 

Quentin ignored the looks thrown his way from Alice and Margo. He had no time to worry about that.

“When it comes to that Henry — I will take full responsibility. It won’t blowback on you I promise,” Quentin said as Fogg nodded at him. 

And then Quentin turned to the group, “I’ve always said that parties change lives and this one is definitely going to change mine.” 

Quentin felt good about all of this. He was sure he was doing the right thing. And then Eliot smiled at him proudly and Quentin felt better. 

“You did a great job,” Eliot told him before heading off to make some calls. 

Quentin just sighed, he truly hated having feelings. _0/10 would not recommend._

“So are you going to tell me what’s up with that?” Margo asked coming up behind him.

“What’s up with what?” Quentin asked playing dumb, which of course Margo didn’t buy. 

“You and Eliot, your tension is weird,” Margo said and then she looked at him and then at Eliot who turned and smiled at them before getting back to his phone call. 

“What?” Quentin asked as Margo dragged him to the side so they couldn’t easily be overheard.

“You two hooked up!” Margo stage-whispered. 

“I,” Quentin said trying to figure out what to say.

“Don’t lie to me Coldwater, you two definitely fucked didn’t you?” Margo asked and Quentin sighed looking at Eliot and then back at Margo.

“Fine, yes we did but there’s nothing going on.”

“Your sighs and general demeanor say otherwise,” Margo told him as Quentin crossed his arms. 

Margo looked at Eliot and then back at Quentin, “He fought for you, you know?”

“What are you talking about?” 

“He went to Whitespire to see Poppy. He told her she was making a mistake among other things, not all of them nice...Oh and he called her Scrooge,” Margo said amused. 

“I — what?” Quentin asked confused.

Why would Eliot do all those things if he wasn’t interested? Why did he keep playing games with Quentin’s emotions?

“Come on you’re really going to tell me you hadn’t noticed?” Margo asked, “ever since he met you it’s been Quentin this and Q that.” 

“That’s not — it’s not possible. We’re just friends,” Quentin said, trying to convince himself more than Margo. 

“That’s bullshit and you know it. You make him happy and he makes you happy, maybe you should stop fighting it and just give in,” Margo said.

“I did — I went to his apartment and we hooked up and I thought,” Quentin trailed off, “I don’t know what I thought but I know he doesn’t feel the same way.”

“Oh, and how do you know that oh wise one?”

“Because the man himself made it known. He basically implied that it meant nothing and said it was just some fun. We hooked up and he decided to take a job on the other side of the country the morning after,” Quentin said trying to keep his emotions in check. 

“What? Q?” Margo said furrowing her brow. 

Thankfully someone needed Quentin’s expertise on the other side of the room. 

“If you excuse me I need to actually do my work. We’ve only got a week till Christmas after all,” Quentin said not bothering to look at Margo and practically sprinting away from the conversation.

It just made him more confused. 

If Eliot had done all that then why had he basically rejected Quentin after their night together?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was my first attempt at smut hope it wasn't a total trainwreck! And yes here you can see why the boys earned the "Idiots to Lovers" tag in this


	4. The Best Christmas Party Ever

It was all hands on deck. They needed to get everything done for this party in time for Christmas. They were at the office when Alice came up to Quentin.

  
“It’s done!” 

“Let me see,” Quentin said as they sat down in one of the desks. Alice took out her ipad and showed Quentin the design. It was a light orange background with a dark blue border. It said Henry Fogg’s Nutcracker Dream and underneath it had the words “All Welcome”. Because unlike elitists like Whitespire, their party would be open to everyone. And it had a mouse king in the middle. 

Quentin is once again in awe of his friend’s talent. 

“It’s not too bad is it?” Alice asked.

“You’re kidding me right Vix? This is truly amazing.” 

“Thank you,” Alice said.

“Honestly — it’s incredible,” Quentin complimented.

“I didn’t want the mouse king to look too scary — he doesn’t look too scary does he?” Alice wondered.

“No, it’s truly spectacular and perfect. Vix, you’re truly my hero,” Quentin said.

“Well I’m very proud of you Quentin,” Alice said.

“Thanks,” Quentin blushed, “I honestly couldn’t have done it without you or the rest.”

“Yes, you could have because you Quentin Coldwater are amazing… but I will take the gratitude because I’m very happy to be involved,” Alice smirked. 

“Now we just need Julia to spread it on social media,” Quentin said.

“I’ll get right on it,” Alice said going to where her girlfriend was talking to someone else.

From then on, everyone got to work. Margo was there when the mouse king costume arrived and took charge of making sure everyone had their costumes and that they all fit comfortably. She spent a lot of her time in fittings, in case they needed to make any last-minute changes. She could also be heard yelling into the phone with her contacts at various times of the day. 

Julia was printing flyers with the design and making sure to post them everywhere she could. She also saturated social media with it. Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Snapchat, Twitter, they all had versions of the posters and she was making sure it was spread around. And that everyone knew the party was happening. 

Eliot and James were their tallest members so they took charge of putting up the decorations. They set up the Christmas trees around the ballroom and made sure the Nutcrackers were where they were supposed to be. Eliot would also talk on the phone to his friends who dealt with movie effects. Trying to get them to contribute. 

Henry Fogg was constantly talking on the phone talking about getting the kids a great Christmas. Then the toys started arriving and Fogg would excitedly show Quentin all of them. It was going to be a great Christmas for the kids. 

Quentin took care of the food details, he went through everything with the chef. Everything needed to be tasted and it needed to be perfect. After all the families that would come deserved the best meal of their lives.

Time passed quickly as they worked on everything. And suddenly the ballroom had been transformed into a magical Christmas Wonderland. 

A true Nutcracker Dream.

* * *

It was the day before Christmas Eve and everything was stunning. Quentin was looking over everything when Eliot pulled him to the side. They hadn’t really had a chance to talk about anything since Eliot took the job in LA. Quentin had been mostly keeping to himself and slightly avoiding him. 

Mostly because he’s sure if they talked about anything but work Quentin would beg him to stay. And that wasn’t how any of it should work. He wanted Eliot to do what was best for Eliot. He just wanted Eliot to have everything he wanted, and for that Quentin had to bite his tongue.

It turned out that what Eliot wanted to show him was a machine in the middle of the room. He swore that it was working but Quentin hasn’t seen anything yet.  
  


“I promise you it was working a minute ago! I just want you to see it okay? I have no fucking clue how they do it but I swear it’s the real thing,” Eliot said excitedly. “It’s amazing.”

“You’re getting my hopes up,” Quentin said.

“Good!” Eliot exclaimed as Henry Fogg came into the room with a red sack of presents and smirked at them.

“Ho Ho Ho.” 

Eliot laughed and Quentin rolled his eyes.

“I just hope it works by tomorrow night,” Quentin said.

“It’s going to work and it’s going to look incredible!” Eliot exclaimed as Quentin’s phone rang.

“It’s Jane,” Quentin said with a worried look and stepped to the side a little bit to take the call.

“Hey Jane,” 

_“So you got fired from the party?”_

“Yeah I was going to tell you,” Quentin said.

_“And you’re doing another version of it? According to an angry call from their legal department?”_

“You’re kidding me, Whitespire Legal contacted you?” 

_“They did.”_

“I’m on my way to you now,” Quentin said hanging up the phone and going towards Eliot.

“So I guess the cat is out of the bag?” Eliot asked.

“She’s furious… apparently, Whitespire found out somehow and they’re threatening a lawsuit.”

“That’s bullshit… on what grounds,” Eliot said.

“Henry signed a non-compete clause and they’re latching on to that,” Quentin explained.

“But this is a fucking party, that clause was about Henry not opening his own store.” 

“I think I need to go talk to her right now,” Quentin said worriedly and Eliot stopped him, grabbed his hands and squeezed.

“Everything is going to be okay.”

Quentin stared at him for a moment, he was so stupidly in love with this man. Would that ever change? Probably not. Especially if Eliot kept staring at him in this way. 

“I’ll talk to you later okay?” Quentin said giving Eliot a slight smile before heading out of the ballroom and towards Jane’s office. 

He only hoped that Jane was feeling merciful because otherwise Quentin was fucked, without lube.

* * *

As Quentin walked from the building with the ballroom to the one where Jane had her office he pondered everything. What was he even going to say? Jane knew how important this party was to him. She would understand why he couldn’t give Whitespire the party they had asked for. This party was too important to be just another exclusive party.

He walked into the building and headed to his desk to take off his coat and scarf. He could do this. He could definitely do this.

“You’re a badass Quentin Coldwater” came a voice in his head that sounded a lot like Eliot Waugh. So, of course, he was being haunted by Eliot in his head as well. 

But he was right. Quentin knew what he was talking about and he’d basically pulled together a party in just a week, he could do this. 

He went to Jane’s office and knocked on the door. 

Quentin didn’t wait for Jane to tell him to come in before walking towards the desk, Jane turned around and saw him and took her glasses off holding them in her hand.

“You should have told me,” Jane said gesturing with her glasses. 

“Yes, I should have told you,” Quentin agreed as Jane put her glasses on her desk, “I guess I thought — deep in my heart — that you would fire me if you knew I lost the account. And I love this job, it’s my life. I thought I could fix it. I thought that maybe if the party was a success that it would change things and mean something for me.”

“Hmm,” Jane muttered.

“Say something please Jane,” Quentin pleaded.

Jane turned to look at him, “Parties can change lives we’re both proof of that. It’s not an untrue statement. But they are about more than that. I think you’ve forgotten the definition of the word.” 

Then she stood up and headed to the bookshelf behind her and grabbed the first dictionary she saw. 

“Let’s see here — where is that damn P, oh there it is,” Jane says as she turns the pages, “Party: a social event. A gathering of people.”

Then she closed the dictionary and smiled at Quentin. 

  
“Quentin, you weren’t alone when Henry Fogg gave that job to your father all those years ago, and you’re not alone now. We’re in this together — you and me,” Jane told Quentin and then she reached out to Quentin, “Come here.” 

Quentin got closer and Jane grabbed his hands.

“You know you are as much family to me as Eliot is. You’re basically the son I never had. I know I’m sometimes tough on you but that’s because I know you can take it. And because well — you remind me a lot of myself when I was your age.”

Quentin doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry so he just smiles and then wipes his eye.

“Oh Jane, you know if it had been any other party I would have given them everything they wanted. I would have completely caved. But Fogg’s does so much for the children and for their families. It gives Christmas to those that otherwise wouldn’t have a Christmas this year,” Quentin said.

“You’re right — you may proceed,” Jane said with a smile. 

“Really?” Quentin asked surprised. 

“Really,” Jane said, “I honestly would have done exactly the same thing if I’d been in your shoes.”

Jane sounded proud of him and it lifted a weight off of Quentin’s shoulders that he didn’t even know was there.

“You’re not mad?” 

“I’m mad that you didn’t tell me, not that we lost Whitespire,” Jane explained.

“But what about their threats? Aren’t you worried?” Quentin asked, the last thing he wanted was for this to cause Jane or Henry trouble.

“Oh please they’re wankers — they’re grasping at straws and they know it,” Jane said as she smiled a wicked smile, “Plus I have lawyers too and I bet mine are better.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second,” Quentin laughed.

“Now get back to work — you have a party to throw after all,” Jane said and Quentin smiled.

“Thank you so much, Jane,” Quentin said before leaving the office.

He had a party to get back to. It wasn’t going to plan itself after all.

* * *

Henry Fogg was organizing all of the presents — including the new arrivals — when Quentin got back to the ballroom. 

“More presents Henry?” Quentin asked.

“It might surprise you to know that not all corporations are run by Ebenezer,” Fogg said, “I know it definitely surprised me.”

“No they’re not — just the one that bought your toy store,” Quentin pointed out sadly.

“How did it go with Jane?” Fogg asked

“She’s pretty damn amazing,” Quentin said. 

“Well so are you,” Henry reminded him and Quentin blushed.

“Thanks.” 

Fogg leaned against one of the desks and looked at Quentin. 

“The truth is that this Whitespire thing has got me down a bit,” Fogg admitted.

“Oh Henry,” Quentin started to say but Fogg waved him off.

“I have a point to this… my point is that throughout this you taught me something,” Fogg said.

“I did?” 

“You taught me that people matter and you taught me that I matter and that’s really important.”

“Well, I’m glad… If I helped you even the slightest bit it’s good enough for me. I can honestly never repay you for what you did for me and my family,” Quentin told him.

“You already have my boy,” Fogg said, “and if we don’t stand up for what is right, then who will?” 

“You’re right Henry as always,” Quentin said and puts his scarf back on, he knows what he has to do now. 

“Where are you going this time?” Fogg asked in an amused tone.

“I’m going to go stand up for what is right,” Quentin said as he left the room he’d just come in. 

He knew exactly what he needed to do, just had to make a quick stop to his office and then he’d be ready to go. 

He basically ran into his office when he arrived and grabbed the photo frame still sitting on his desk. Then he went downstairs and hailed a cab.

There was a bit of traffic which meant he could practice what he was going to say. Margo’s words about Eliot fighting for him came back into his head. Maybe he should ask Eliot about them? Should he be upfront about his feelings? He didn’t want to get in the way of Eliot’s dreams but maybe he shouldn’t let it go without a fight. 

And then he arrived at Whitespire. 

_It was go time._

He went up the elevators to the office and thankfully Poppy was in the reception area. Perfect — that meant he didn’t have to wait for hours to see if she would deign to show up and bless him with her presence or something. 

“Quentin! Didn’t expect to see you around these parts,” Poppy said trying to act nonchalant.

“I came to give this back to you,” Quentin said handing her the frame with the photo.

“I don’t understand — this was a gift… You do understand how gifts work right Quentin?” Poppy asked.

“The Fogg’s Toys Christmas Party is not in a photograph. It’s in here,” Quentin said pointing at his own heart, “You can do whatever you want to do. You can try to shut our party down all that you want but you will never be able to shut down what it stands for. Generosity, Kindness, Love — that’s Christmas Poppy.”

“That’s sentimental bullshit,” Poppy said crossing her arms.

“No it’s not and you know it. No lawyer in the world can shut down what Christmas stands for.”

“Quentin — our legal team saw your party on social media… I can’t control their response, you know what lawyers are like. This is what they do.” 

“I’m a party planner that’s what _I_ do. Thanks anyway,” Quentin said mockingly and then smiled a wicked smile, “I really do hope you find your spine one of these days Poppy.”

With that final comment, Quentin walked out of Whitespire with his head held high. 

* * *

Eliot was organizing one of the deliveries and trying not to look at his phone so much. Quentin wasn’t back yet. He hadn’t seen him since the morning. He was trying not to show it but he’s stressed about Quentin’s meeting with Jane. He’d always known her as his cool godmother rather than his boss so he had no clue how she was as a boss. Was Quentin in trouble? Did Eliot’s idea get him in deep water? Was there anything Eliot could do? 

He was lost in thought so he didn’t realize it when Margo went up to him.

“You want to tell me what the fuck you are doing?” Margo asked.

“I am organizing toys, you know for the party we’re throwing,” Eliot replied cheekily.

“Oh don’t play that game with me you know that’s not what I’m talking about,” Margo said.

“Then what are you talking about?” Eliot asked.

“Quentin!” Margo exclaimed.

“What about him?”

“What the fuck are you doing?” Margo asked, “I know for a fact that you have feelings for the nerd so why are you being such a shit about it?”

“I’m not being a shit… He’s not interested.”  
  


Margo actually grabbed his arm and pushed him into a room, that was definitely going to bruise alter. 

“Are you blind or stupid?” 

“What?” 

“I’m asking because even a blind man could see the heart eyes Quentin throws at you. Hell you can basically see them from space,” Margo said and something in Eliot jumped. Could it be?

“That’s not — he’s into Poppy.”

“Poppy? Whitespire Poppy?” Margo asked incredulously.

“Yes that Poppy,” Eliot muttered.

“Quentin is most definitely not interested in Poppy — they went on one terrible date and that was it. Well according to James she’s clearly interested and he could not care less.”

“What?” 

“Yeah apparently they were in the middle of a date when she started being a dick about someone in particular and Quentin called it quits,” Margo said.

“What?” Eliot repeated, not quite believing what he was hearing.

“You, you dumbass. Apparently Poppy said some not nice things about you and that didn’t sit right with Coldwater — which I have to say makes me like him even more.”

“So he’s not into Poppy,” Eliot stated as if he needed to say it with his own words.

“No — from what I hear he’s only interested in one person but thinks that person isn’t into him.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Eliot muttered.

“Well according to him you guys hooked up and the next day when he tried to talk to you about it you ignored him and then took a job on the other side of the country. So I can see why he came to that conclusion,” Margo said.

And then it all came together in his head. 

Shit. 

Did Quentin think that he regretted their night together? 

_“What about it? We had fun and that was it. No reason to rehash it.”_

_We had fun and that was it._

_that was it._

No wonder Quentin didn’t think he was interested. 

“Well it’s too late now — I already took the job I can’t go back on my word,” Eliot said.

“You’re running scared.”

“I’m not scared of anything,” Eliot said.

“Yes you are — this thing with Quentin, it’s real for you, and that terrifies you more than anything has before,” Margo said once again hitting the nail on the head.

Eliot knew she was right. She was so right. But the louder part of him didn’t want to listen. It told him that the easy decision was going to LA and doing that show. That way no one had to get hurt. There was no way for Quentin to hurt him if Eliot didn’t give him the opportunity to do so. 

After all, you can’t lose what you’ve never had. 

“I need to get back to work — the party is tomorrow,” Eliot stated.

“I’ll leave you to it but there’s one more thing I have to say.”

“Which is?” 

“This show might have been what you wanted once but is that still the case? If it is, then go to LA, but you’ve changed a lot this past month. Are you brave enough to know what it is that you truly want and go for it?” Margo asked giving him a kiss on the cheek and then leaving the room. 

The problem was that Eliot didn’t know. 

He knew he loved Quentin but was he truly ready to embrace that? To stay in New York? To stop running and stop taking the easy way?

So what to do when you’re faced with a problem you can’t seem to solve? Go back to hiding in your work.

It’s a good thing that this place still needed a lot of work because that meant that he could hide himself in work and not have to think about anything really. This went on for about 15 minutes and then the reason for his troubles reappeared while he was fixing up the Nutcrackers.

“This is looking stunning,” Quentin said.

“It really is isn’t it?” Eliot agreed, the place truly was shaping up to be a child’s imagination. He almost couldn’t believe they had made this all happen so fast.

“It’s incredible,” Quentin added.

“So how did it go?” Eliot asked, trying to pretend like he hadn’t been fretting about it since Quentin had left to see Jane.

“You have a pretty amazing godmother,” Quentin said with a smile and Eliot smiled back.

“She didn’t care about Whitespire did she?” Eliot asked knowingly.

Quentin shook his head, “No, she cared about me.”

Eliot smiled at him proudly and then gestured to the nutcracker, “Come on, help me carry this guy.”

Quentin put his stuff on the chair and headed towards where Eliot was standing.

“Grab the legs,” Eliot said and Quentin did and then they carried him next to Santa’s throne. Eliot saw Henry staring at them and ignored the smirk from the elder man, “Perfect that is it.”

“It looks really good,” Quentin said and then Eliot placed his face next to the Nutcracker’s.

“Who is more handsome?”

“Tough call but I think I have to go with the nutcracker,” Quentin replied with a cheeky smile.

“You’re breaking my heart Coldwater,” Eliot said dramatically putting a hand on his heart.

“You’ll survive.”

“Why don’t you kids take a break? It’s late after all,” Fogg suggested, “I’ll close up here.”

Quentin looked at Eliot and nodded, “Would you like to go get something to eat?”

“I’d love to,” Eliot said and Quentin turned to Fogg, “Thank you so much, Henry, we’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“See you tomorrow,” Fogg said waving them goodbye as Quentin grabbed his things and headed out for the door with Eliot. 

They, of course, ended up at the hot dog stand. It was practically a tradition by now. One that neither seemed to want to let go of. 

Once they had their hot dogs they started walking towards their usual bench.

“Are you nervous?” Quentin asked. 

“About the role?” Eliot wondered.

“Yeah.”

“Oh yes — big time. I’ve never worn an eye patch before,” Eliot joked and Quentin laughed and rolled his eyes, “What about you Q? Are you nervous?”

“I should be nervous,” Quentin said.

“But you’re not?” 

“Surprisingly no, I think it’s the first time since I started in this business that I’m not nervous before a party,” Quentin said and let out a small laugh, “Imagine that.”

“It’s cause you’ve got this,” Eliot said as they sat down on the bench, “This is Quentin Coldwater’s Nutcracker Dream!” 

Eliot started mimicking the sounds of crowds screaming and Quentin giggled. That was one of the cutest sounds in the world for Eliot. He would never tire of hearing it. They each took a bite out of their hot dogs and Quentin, of course, got mustard on his cheek.

Because he wouldn’t be Quentin if he didn’t right?

“What is it?” Quentin asked as he saw Eliot staring.

“I’m sorry it’s just you have a bit of,” Eliot said gesturing to Quentin’s cheek.

“Did I get it?” Quentin asked as he tried to wipe on the opposite side.

“Here let me,” Eliot said running his finger next to Quentin’s lips and wiping the mustard. He should have used a napkin but it was basically a reflex. One he slightly regretted at the moment but also not at all. Feelings were complicated.

Eliot stared at Quentin and Quentin stared back. 

“I — uh… thanks,” Quentin said.

“Anytime,” Eliot remarked.

“Is it completely gone?” Quentin said.

“It’s completely gone,” Eliot said with a laugh, “You’re mustard free once more.”

“Good,” Quentin smiled. 

Eliot was trying really hard not to get lost in Quentin’s smile. 

“So — I saw Poppy today,” Quentin said.

“Did you?” Eliot asked trying to appear like he wasn’t hanging on every word, “how is our dear Poppy?”

“Just as spineless as ever,” Quentin smirked.

“You could always do better than her — I never liked her.”

“Oh really? I hadn’t noticed,” Quentin laughed, “I told her off. You would have loved it.” 

“She was just — never right for you,” Eliot said and Quentin looked away for a moment. Eliot didn’t want to say the wrong thing. It seemed like that’s all he’d done recently where Quentin is concerned. 

“Poppy was a mouse king while you Quentin Coldwater — are a Nutcracker,” Eliot pointed out, “Heroically leading a revolution for good one party at a time.”

Eliot succeeded in what he wanted to do and made Quentin laugh.

“I’m not a hero,” Quentin said, “I’m just a party planner.”

“You are a hero Q, you’re my hero,” Eliot said truthfully staring into Quentin’s eyes. 

Maybe this was it? This was the moment to come clean about everything. 

But the faraway look was back in Quentin’s eyes and he saw how Quentin closed himself down and Eliot was on the other side of that wall. After everything he’d done to get past it.

“I’m sorry I have to go,” Quentin said standing up and before he left he turned back, “I’ll see you at the Hall in the morning?”

“Yeah the network is sending a car to pick me up there,” Eliot explained.

Quentin nodded and then left and Eliot was alone.

Eliot was alone with his thoughts and the feeling that his time was running out. He was going to have to make a decision soon, and stick to it. 

* * *

Eliot was packed. It wasn’t nearly everything he was going to take with him but it was enough for now. After all, his closet in LA was still pretty full. And the weather was much different there. 

So all he had was a large suitcase and a carry-on bag as he walked into the hall. 

He could see Margo and Jane waiting there by the tree. But there was no sign of Quentin.

Maybe it was for the best.

Jane was the first one to notice he had arrived and went over to hug him. His godmother always joked that she was too British to be a hugger but the truth was that she gave pretty good hugs. 

Even when they threatened to cut off his circulation.

“Don’t squeeze me too hard — I have to emote remember?” Eliot joked as they pulled apart.

“I’ll squeeze you as much as I bloody well like,” Jane replied, “I am your godmother — it’s in the godmother handbook.”

“Oh is it?” Eliot asked with a cheeky grin.

“I’m so proud of you Eliot… Now if those Hollywood types try to push you around just send them in my direction and I’ll take care of it,” Jane said and Eliot knew her well enough to know that it wasn’t entirely a joke. She definitely would do that. 

“I will pass along the message.”

“Good, that will teach them,” Jane smiled, “I love you, Eliot.”

“I love you too Jane,” Eliot muttered neither one of them was particularly good at emotions but sometimes they got it right.

“I need you to remember something very important okay?”

“What is it?” 

“You always have a place here,” Jane said giving his arm a squeeze.

“Thank you, Jane, for that and for everything,” Eliot said.

Whether he was talking about recent events or his childhood was anyone’s guess. He just knew he owed a lot of who he was to Jane. She seemed to get what he was trying to say and just smiled at him and nodded.

“It was my pleasure,” Jane said and then stepped back for Margo to say her goodbyes.

Margo practically ran into his arms and he held on to her tightly.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving again,” Margo murmured into his chest.

“I know.”

“I can’t follow you this time,” Margo admitted.

“I wouldn’t have let you even if you tried. You’ve got a good life here Bambi.”

“As if you could stop me even if you tried,” Margo tried to joke, but the truth was that she was getting teary-eyed.

“I’m proud of you Margo, truly.” 

“I’m proud of you too — even if I disagree with this entire thing and think you should stay,” Margo said.

“Bambi,” Eliot said. 

“Yeah, I know — I’m just saying what I think.”

“You always do,” Eliot muttered fondly, “I will miss you most of all.”

“I’ll miss you too asshole, you better text when you’re on the plane and when you landed in LA okay?” Margo said and Eliot laughed.

“I promise you I will,” Eliot said, “I love you, Bambi.”

“I love you too El,” Margo said and then Eliot gave her a kiss on the top of the head. 

They pulled apart and Eliot looked around to see if he could see Quentin. 

But he wasn’t here — he hadn’t come. 

He had to make his peace with that and go. 

* * *

Quentin was late, he was so late. He only hoped Eliot was still there. 

He hadn’t known if he was going to come. Which was why he was running late.

The last thing Quentin wanted was to say goodbye to Eliot. But he also knew that if he didn’t he’d regret it forever. 

He made it to the hallway to see Eliot walking towards the door with his suitcase.

“El,” Quentin shouted and Eliot stopped and turned around. Quentin ignored both Jane and Margo staring at him and walked towards Eliot with his hands in his sweater. 

“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come,” Eliot said.

“I would never — I had to come and say goodbye,” Quentin said sheepishly.

“Well, I’m glad you made it,” Eliot smiled.

“I don’t know what to say… I honestly hate goodbyes but I just — I needed to thank you.”

“Thank me?” Eliot asked confused.

“For everything you did for me, and if I’m being honest… I couldn’t have done any of this without you,” Quentin admitted looking at Eliot. 

“It’s just imagination Coldwater. You saw how it was supposed to be and you made it happen. Just make me a small promise alright?” Eliot asked grabbing Quentin’s hand.

“Which is?” 

“Promise me you’ll have fun? It is a party after all,” Eliot said and Quentin couldn’t help but smile. Of course, he should have expected that. It was a very typically Eliot comment. 

“I promise,” Quentin said looking up at Eliot.

Eliot sighed like he was taking one last look at Quentin.

“I should probably get going.”

“Yeah you don’t want to miss your flight,” Quentin said putting his hair behind his ear.

Eliot let go of his hand and moved to walk away when Quentin spoke up again.

“Are you happy El?” Quentin asked he needed to know if Eliot was happy. Because if Eliot was happy that meant that maybe Quentin could accept this more. Because all he wanted was Eliot’s happiness.

“I mean yeah — why wouldn’t I be?” Eliot said jokingly and then posed, “You’re looking at Dr. Stone Hunter after all.” 

“No, I’m not, I’m looking at Eliot Waugh,” Quentin said reaching up to give Eliot a kiss on the cheek. Eliot closed his eyes for a moment and then he smiled softly at Quentin.

“Don’t make me cry Q,” Eliot complained.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Quentin said.

“Forgot what?” Eliot asked softly.

“I got you something — a Christmas present,” Quentin said reaching into his messenger bag to pull out a medium-sized present with red and white wrapping paper and a red bow.

Quentin smiled as he handed it to Eliot, “Merry Christmas El.”

Eliot stared at him in awe for a minute. Like he couldn’t believe Quentin had gotten him something. Quentin felt nervous because Eliot wasn’t saying anything. But then Eliot looked at him with those eyes that drove Quentin crazy.

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Eliot smiled, “I feel kind of bad that I didn’t get you anything.”

“Yes you did — you helped me in more ways than I could possibly say,” Quentin said and so Eliot pulled him into a hug. 

Quentin wanted nothing more than to stay in his comforting arms forever. But Eliot had to go. 

He had a plane to catch after all. One that would take him across the country and away from Quentin. 

“You have to go,” Quentin whispered.

“You’re right,” Eliot said and then turned back and walked towards where his suitcase was. 

He waved at them and walked out the door, going out of Quentin’s life.

Quentin could feel the tears coming and that’s when he felt a comforting presence next to him. Margo put her arms around Quentin and squeezed. Quentin melted into the hug. He knew that Margo was feeling the same things he was currently feeling. Well most of them. 

“What do you say we go make this party a success?” Margo said softly.

“That sounds perfect,” Quentin said wiping at his tears. 

The show must go on.

The children and their families were expecting them. There would be time to cry later. Preferably over a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. Maybe he’d even invite Margo and they could commiserate together. 

* * *

Quentin was getting ready for the last party of the holiday season. After this, he’d get a long-deserved vacation. Well about two weeks of vacation but that was good enough for him. He couldn’t believe how fast the season had gone by.

And how much he’d changed in one holiday season. 

“Are you having trouble with your tie again?” Alice asked as she and Julia appeared at his bedroom door. 

“No — just being pensive,” Quentin replied but Alice fixed his bow tie anyway. She knew her friend would struggle with it anyway. 

“About Eliot?” Alice asked.

“A bit but mostly about the season,” Quentin said.

“I’d say it’s your best one yet,” Julia pointed out.

“It was definitely unexpected,” Quentin laughed.

“Well this party is going to be the crowning jewel, everyone is going to be talking about it,” Julia said.

“She’s right you know,” Alice agreed.

Quentin blushed and looked at his best friends, “You both look beautiful, have I already thanked you both for everything you did?” 

“You have — about a million times,” Alice joked.

“But we’re always up to hearing it,” Julia remarked, “And you look very handsome as well.”

“Well, shall we?” Quentin said offering up one arm to each. They both take them and head down to the cab. 

After a few minutes, they reached their destination and Quentin walked into the party. He felt the same way he felt like a little boy in Fogg’s Toys’ Christmas Party, and it hadn’t even started yet.

The room looked marvelous, everyone was ready to open. The ballerinas were stretching, the waiters and waitresses’ outfits were impeccable. The band was set up. Everything was ready. 

“You’ve truly outdone yourself this time Q,” Julia said as she looked around at the spectacle around them. 

_It truly was Quentin Coldwater’s Nutcracker Dream._

And it was stunning.

James and Margo waved them over, both of them, of course, looked gorgeous.

“Quentin you are a knockout and so is this all of this,” Margo said as she hugged him.

“Thank you and you look gorgeous as well.”

“I know,” Margo replied. 

“I’m proud of you Quentin,” James said giving his friend a hug.

“Thank you,” Quentin replied, “for everything.”

“What are friends for?” James said. 

Quentin smiled and then turned to look at his friends. He wished Eliot was here but honestly Quentin was floored at how lucky he was to have friends like these. More than friends they were his family. He was realizing he had a pretty phenomenal family.

“Now I need you all to help us one last time. I need everyone at their stations because we open in 14 minutes and then this room is going to be filled with children and their families okay?” 

With Quentin’s words, everyone scattered to their assigned party duties and then Quentin saw Henry Fogg in his Santa outfit. 

“Just 14 minutes can you believe it,” Fogg said.

“Hey Henry,” Quentin said.

“Are you okay? I thought you’d be happier after all this is basically your masterpiece,” Fogg said.

“Not just mine,” Quentin said, he couldn’t help but think that Eliot should be here too enjoying the fruits of his labor. Seeing it all come together. 

“Ah, this is about Mr. Waugh,” Fogg correctly guessed.

“He left,” Quentin admitted.

“I heard something along those lines, yes,” Fogg said.

“I’m just — I’m regretting the fact that when I had the chance I didn’t tell Eliot how I felt. I just let him walk away.”

“When I sold the store to Whitespire I lived in regret for countless days. I thought ‘this is it, it’s over’ but you know what?” 

“What?” 

“It wasn’t over for me and it certainly isn’t over for you. The party is just beginning,” Fogg said and Quentin gave him a slight hug. 

“Thank you, Henry.”

* * *

Eliot was at JFK Airport, he’d gotten through security and now he was at the gate waiting for boarding to start. 

He was nervous and anxious and he kept seeing Quentin’s face in his head.

All day he’d felt this weight on his chest. Was he making the right choice? Was Margo right? Should he throw caution out the window? 

He needed a sign, something to show him what he needed to do. And then he looked down and saw the gift Quentin had given him.

Technically it was Christmas Eve, right? He could already open the present without issue. 

Plus he was extremely curious about what Quentin could have gotten him. He opened the box to find a note on top of the gift wrapped in tissue paper. 

_Dear El,_

_You said you feel like a clock radio that is always on. This is a clock radio — you are so much more. I just wish you could see that yourself._

_Merry Christmas._

_Love, Q._

Eliot carefully took the gift out of the tissue paper and sure enough, it was an orange clock radio. He couldn’t believe Quentin remembered a dumb joke he’d made weeks ago. Suddenly Margo’s words flew into his head. 

_Are you brave enough to know what it is that you truly want and go for it?_

What was he doing here? He didn’t want this role, he didn’t want to go to LA.

He wanted to stay and watch Christmas movies with Margo and laugh with the new friends he’d made. He wanted to argue with James over musicals and laugh at Quentin’s antics with Alice. He even wanted to impress Julia. He wanted to see Jane on a more regular basis and go out to coffee with his best friend. 

But most of all he wanted Quentin. 

He wanted Quentin more than he had ever wanted anything or anyone. 

He wanted to wake up with him and fight over random things. He wanted to kiss him again because kissing Quentin was one of his favorite things to do. He wanted to have hot dogs with him and argue over parties. He wanted to spend the holidays with him and hear every single one of Quentin’s adorable nerd rants. 

He wanted a life with Quentin. 

For once in his life, Eliot Waugh wasn’t going to take the easy route. 

He was going to be brave. 

* * *

They were 5 minutes away from opening the doors. Quentin still couldn’t believe this was actually happening.

Quentin went to the front of the room in between Jane and Henry and addressed the crowd. 

“Hey everyone, I just wanted to thank you all for everything you’ve done tonight and all the nights leading up to tonight. Donating services, time, food, toys… words cannot express how grateful I am to all of you,” Quentin said looking at everyone in the crowd, including his friends.

“If you’d told me that this was pulled off in the time frame we had — I would have never believed you but we actually did it,” Quentin laughed, “It just goes to show that together we can truly achieve anything.”

“Now what do you say we open up those doors and start this party?” Quentin asked as everyone clapped, “Merry Christmas!” 

And so the doors opened as the band started playing. There were ballerinas dancing and fake snow falling. Champagne flutes were passed around by waiters dressed as nutcrackers and waitresses dressed as ballerinas. There were also waiters dressed as the mouse king passing out hors d'oeuvres.

Julia was dressed in a cute Santa outfit and was helping Fogg with the presents. James and Alice were on food duty helping serve the turkey dinners. Jane was doing the rounds as always. There were excited kids running around and parents who couldn’t truly believe it. It was a joyous event.

It was a true Winter Wonderland. 

The workings of Quentin and Eliot’s combined imaginations put into action. 

And it was wonderful.

* * *

Quentin was doing the rounds when Margo caught up with him and directed him to sit down. Something about him working too hard and he should sit down and take it all in. 

“God Q, you truly are a master at this,” Margo said in awe.

“This is beyond my own wildest dreams,” Quentin said, “we did good didn’t we?” 

“Have you seen the children’s faces? We did real good,” Margo said.

“Have you heard from El?” Quentin asked.

“Not yet but any moment now — hopefully,” Margo said.

“Do you think I should have told him?” 

“That you’re stupidly in love with him?” Margo asked and Quentin playfully glared.

“Yes… that.” 

“Yes I think you should have told him — would that have changed things? I honestly don't know. Eliot can surprise even me at times,” Margo said taking a sip of her drink.

Quentin smiled pensively at that and then noticed who walked in the door. 

“Oh fuck me,”

“That’s more Eliot’s thing — not that you aren’t cute,” Margo joked and then saw the grimace on Quentin’s face, “What happened?”

“Poppy Kline and her boss Nicholas Kringle just walked into the party.”

“Whitespire is here?” 

“Apparently.”

“Can you just tell them to leave?” Margo asked, “I volunteer to do it.”

“We can’t do that… the party is open to everyone, remember?” Quentin remarked.

“Right… fuck.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Whatever your play is here Q I’ll back you up,” Margo said and Quentin smiled genuinely at that. 

“Well we’ll have to decide soon because they’re headed this way,” Quentin said as he saw Nicholas Kringle and Poppy make a beeline for him. Thankfully, Jane had also noticed Whitespire’s arrival and had gone to stand next to Quentin and Margo. 

It was good to present a united front after all. 

“Mr. Coldwater — this is quite the party,” Nicholas Kringle said in lieu of hello.

“Quentin,” Poppy said.

“Welcome to the VIP Lounge,” Quentin said snarkily and Margo had to bite back a snort. 

Yeah, Quentin could be a bitch when he wanted to be. Even on Christmas Eve. 

“Jane, this is Nicholas Kringle and Poppy Kline from—,” Quentin started to say. 

“Whitespire, of course,” Jane finished. 

That’s the moment that Henry Fogg let out a loud HO HO HO which caused Nick to look back at him. 

“Henry?” Nick asked confused.

“Nick! Merry Christmas!” Henry screamed back. 

“Jane — your employee has co-opted a legally trademarked brand,” Poppy complained, “He has gone rogue. He’s.” 

“The most amazing man I’ve ever met,” came Eliot’s voice interrupting Poppy’s spiel. 

There he was Eliot Waugh in all his glory. He hadn’t gotten on the plane. Quentin was completely shocked but delighted. So delighted. 

Although he was pretty sure he’d just heard Margo scoff and say typical. So he was probably the only one that was actually shocked by this development.

Ignoring Poppy and everyone else Quentin went towards Eliot just as Eliot walked toward him. Eliot was smiling at him, _Eliot was here_ and right now that was all that mattered. 

“You’re here,” Quentin said shocked. 

“Well the element of surprise,” Eliot said cheekily.

“Is the key to any successful party,” Quentin replied with a smile of his own, “what about LA? And the show?”

“I don’t want LA I want to be here with you… I’m sorry it took me until I was at the airport to realize it.”

“What made you come back?” 

“I decided I needed to be brave for once in my life and tell this incredible and amazing guy how stupidly in love with him I am,” Eliot said grabbing Quentin’s hands, “I’m sorry I was a fool. I should have been upfront from the start. Our night wasn’t just fun I mean it was fun — very fun — but I mean… it was the best night I had in a very long time. All the days I spend with you are the best. And if you’ll take me I’m yours because I love you Quentin Coldwater.”

“I love you too,” Quentin said as Eliot pulled him into a kiss.

It was just as wonderful as Quentin remembered it to be. Both Eliot and Quentin put all of their emotions into the kiss. Eliot put his hands on Quentin’s neck pulling him closer. Their hearts were beating fast and they were both smiling into the kiss. Then they pulled apart and stayed that way for a moment. 

Until Quentin remembered that oh right there was a party going on and the girl who you went on one terrible date with was trying to sabotage you again. But Eliot was here, Eliot loved him. That meant that Quentin could move mountains. 

He grabbed Eliot’s hand, “Join me for a toast?” 

“It would be my honor,” Eliot replied as Quentin pulled him back to where Margo, Jane and the rest were.

Jane and Margo smiled at them when they arrived. 

“Is he responsible for this too?” Nick asked.

“Yes sir, he’s the other party planner,” Poppy answered looking way too proud of herself. 

Then Nicholas Kringle’s entire demeanor changed. Gone was the strict man and in his place was a laughing man. 

“I want to shake your hands,” Nick said shaking both Eliot and Quentin’s hands. He looked absolutely delighted, “This is just — it’s just so wonderful!” 

Then he turned towards Poppy, “Did you see Henry Fogg dressed as Santa? It’s truly brilliant.”

And then the stern look was back for a moment when he directed his attention at Poppy, “Poppy why would you ever let this tradition go? Not only is it a PR goldmine but it’s the right thing to do.”  
  
“Sir I just thought you wanted me to cater to our exclusive clientele, to our partners and clients,” Poppy tried to explain and it did bring Quentin a certain joy to see her try to talk her way out of this one.

“Poppy, there’s time for that in other events… this is,” Nick said looking for the right word.

“Christmas?” Quentin suggested.

“Exactly. Yes, it is, and a merry one at that,” Nick said, “Come on Poppy we need to go help Santa maybe it will help get you off the naughty list.”

With that, they walked away. 

“Well played my dears,” Jane said proudly.

“You always know how to make an entrance,” Margo told Eliot who just shrugged.

“It’s one of my many talents,” Eliot joked and suddenly Margo was hugging him. 

“I can’t believe you made me cry for nothing,” Margo complained but it was clear to Quentin that she was happy. 

“Well for that I do apologize I know how much you hate showing other people that you’re human.”

“If you show them you’re human then they start getting ideas and you know how it is,” Margo joked. 

“So Eliot tell me, are you back for good?” Jane asked as James, Alice and Julia approached their table. 

“If you’ll have me,” Eliot said sheepishly. 

“Absolutely,” Jane said and then pointed at Eliot and Quentin, “You two make a great team. I can’t think of two better people to take the reins. I’ve been in this business for quite some team now but in all my life I’ve never seen a better party. I’m very proud of both of you.” 

And then she walked away. 

“Guess you two will have to continue sharing an office,” James joked.

“I’m thinking we can make it work,” Eliot said putting an arm around Quentin. 

“Does this mean we can do away with the idiotic pining too?” Margo asked with a smile.

“Yeah, I don’t think we need to worry about that anymore,” Quentin smiled leaning into Eliot.

“Good — I might have ended up killing someone if I had to withstand any more pining,” Julia said.

“Here here, sister!” Margo agreed.

“I propose a toast,” Alice said, “To Quentin and Eliot for getting their heads out of their asses, to Jane for giving you guys the company, to us that we always remain friends.”

“And to the best Christmas Party Ever,” Margo said. 

“Cheers!” Everyone said as they clinked their glasses and drank from their champagne.

They talked for a bit before they all broke up into their respective couples to enjoy the rest of the party and Eliot dragged Quentin to the side.

Eliot walked towards another of the waiters that were carrying champagne. Hilariously enough he was the same one that Eliot used to tease Quentin early on in their working relationship.

“You’re not going to make me pick pigs in a blanket are you?” 

“Don’t worry you’re safe from our questions tonight,” Eliot said grabbing two flutes of champagne. Then the guy walked away.

“I think you might have slightly traumatized him.”

“He’ll get over it,” Eliot joked.

Then he took a seat across from Quentin and handed him a flute. 

“So,” Eliot started.

“So,” Quentin replied.

“We’re going to be doing this?” 

“The job or the relationship?” Quentin asked cheekily.

“Both?” 

“For the job, I think I can continue to show you the ropes,” Quentin smirked.

“Oh, you are truly the most merciful.” 

“I know.”

“And for the relationship?” Eliot wondered.

“Boyfriends, partners, whatever word you want to use,” Quentin said and then he moved to the seat next to Eliot’s, “All that I know is that I’m yours.” 

“Well, that’s good to know — because guess what.”

“What?” 

“I’m yours too.”

“That is great news because you’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Quentin said bringing their lips together for a soft kiss. 

When they broke apart, Quentin had to say, "It's not always going to be easy."

“I’m aware of that.” 

“Sometimes I’m going to annoy you and other times you will annoy me and perhaps we’ll scream at each other. You can’t run away if things get to be too much,” Quentin said softly and Eliot nodded.

“I know and you can’t hide in yourself when something bothers you. You need to tell me these things. I’ve heard that communication is key when it comes to relationships,” Eliot pointed out. 

“Oh really?” 

“Yes really.” 

“Communication is a two-way street — you can’t just assume things.” 

“I will try not to,” Eliot said, “but you know sometimes fighting isn’t the worst thing.”

“And why is that?” Quentin asked amused.

“You know what comes after fighting?” 

“I assume you’re going to tell me.”

“Make-up sex,” Eliot said smiling at Quentin with a devilish smile and Quentin laughed.

“I have heard of this mystical concept.”

“We’ll just have to explore it,” Eliot said, “You know you never answered my question.”

“What question?” Quentin asked confused. 

“Given the choice would you choose me over the seasick crocodile?” Eliot asked cheekily, recalling their earlier conversation. 

And Quentin just laughed. Of course, Eliot would remember that. 

“Hmm, it's a tough question but I think I’ll have to go with you,” Quentin replied.

“Good answer,” Eliot said. 

“You’re incorrigible.”

“And you love me for it.”

“That I do,” Quentin said softly as Eliot kissed Quentin’s hand.

“I love you too.”

“So do you have any plans for Christmas?” Quentin asked.

“None at the moment.” 

“What do you say we go down to the park and do some skating, followed by having dinner with our friends at my apartment and watching Christmas movies with hot chocolate,” Quentin suggested.

“That sounds absolutely heavenly,” Eliot said gazing into Quentin’s eyes.

“Merry Christmas El.”

“Merry Christmas Q,” Eliot said as they clinked their drinks together.

“And to the greatest Christmas Party ever,” Quentin said repeating Margo’s toast from earlier.

“I’ll drink to that.”

And so they did. And then Eliot pulled Quentin in for another kiss. It was a truly magical kiss. Valzer Dei Fiori was playing in the background and it was snowing in their faces. It might have been fake snow but the feeling was the same.

And they were together. 

That was the best part of all. 

Eliot pulled Quentin closer as they kissed. Both of their hearts were glowing and their eyes smiling. Their bodies leaning as close as they could. And then they came up for air and smiled at each other. 

Then Quentin grabbed Eliot’s hand. 

“What do you say we get out of here?”

“Quentin Coldwater choosing to leave a party before it’s done?” Eliot asked with fake shock.

“Well let’s just say I never had a reason to leave early before,” Quentin admitted.

He’d always wanted that. 

It was such a strange thing to want. But he had always wanted to be with someone who would matter more than his job to Quentin. Eliot was that person. For Eliot, Quentin would skip early out of any party. 

“Won’t they miss us?” Eliot asked.

“I’ll text Alice to let her know not to look for us when they go home,” Quentin replied, “And anyway we hired a really good cleaning crew that knows exactly what their job is. We’re no longer needed here.” 

And then he did just that. 

“I’m beginning to think I might be a bad influence on you,” Eliot joked as Quentin pulled him outside of the room. 

“Well you were the one that said I should have fun,” Quentin smirked.

“That I did,” Eliot said laughing as they got into the cab.

It took all their willpower not to start tearing at each other’s clothes in the cab. The ride seemed to go on forever, even though logically Quentin knew that it was only 15 minutes from the ballroom to his apartment. He’d done the journey countless times.

But then again, he’d never taken the journey while Eliot Waugh was kissing his neck. Thankfully they arrived before any clothes came off. They paid their driver and made their way to the elevator. 

Once they were in the elevator Eliot pushed Quentin against the walls and started kissing his neck and working on getting his shirt untucked. Then they got to Quentin’s floor. Quentin’s keys were in his pocket but everything was more distracting when Eliot was involved. 

Finally, Quentin managed to open the door and they walked in. Eliot pushed Quentin against the door, which was definitely a new way to close a door. Quentin laughed at the action and Eliot smiled at him. Then Quentin pulled Eliot down capturing his lips in a bruising and passionate kiss. 

Eliot managed to get Quentin’s shirt off and Quentin got Eliot’s vest open. 

“For once you have more layers than I do,” Quentin complained as he struggled to open up Eliot’s shirt. 

“Well now you see what I go through with all of yours,” Eliot said pushing Quentin towards the couch. 

“You know I do have a room with a very good bed in it,” Quentin pointed out.

“You didn’t show me your room last time I came to visit,” Eliot joked.

“Well let’s fix that shall we?” Quentin smirked as he lead them towards his bedroom. 

The rest of their clothes fell to the floor on the way there until all they were wearing were their pants. 

They got to Quentin’s room and Eliot smirked at him.

“You know I’ve never actually had Christmas sex before,” Eliot said.

“Well here is to new firsts,” Quentin said opening the door to the room.

“I do love the season of giving,” Eliot said before pulling Quentin into a kiss and closing the door behind them.

It truly was the season of giving. 


	5. Art by Cath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you can see the lovely art by my artist [Cath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighKingFen/pseuds/High%20King%20Fen)!
> 
> I loved all her pieces... She did a great job!

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/151731656@N03/49279218696/in/dateposted-public/)

Cover for "Of Nutcrackers, Parties & Seasick Crocodiles 

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/151731656@N03/49279418147/in/dateposted-public/)

Eliot & Quentin hot dog scene <3

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/151731656@N03/49279419007/in/dateposted-public/)

Eliot getting a gift from Quentin that makes him decide to be brave. 

Thanks again to Cath & to all my fellow mods for this wonderful project!

**Author's Note:**

> So here it is! 
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed my Christmas Queliot nonsense... 
> 
> Thank you to Riz, Annis and the rest of the MHHE mods for this wonderful event! We did it!


End file.
